Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Gabon and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Kas Product to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by CMW. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Black Dice record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
Loose Ends,
R.M.O.,
Erasure,
ABBA,
Graham Central Station,
Bronski Beat,
The Selecter,
Con Funk Shun,
X-102,
Patti Smith,
Masters at Work,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
In Retrospect,
The Alarm Clocks,
Eurythmics,
Rod Modell,
Agitation Free,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Techniques,
Clear Light,
Spandau Ballet,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Sonics,
Main Source,
Kool Moe Dee,
Barbara Tucker,
Brothers Johnson,
Severed Heads,
Mandrill,
June of 44,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Silicon Teens,
Television Personalities,
Franke,
Can,
MC5,
Wasted Youth,
Leonard Cohen,
Electric Prunes,
Lyres,
Skarface,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Jeru the Damaja,
Tim Buckley,
Icehouse,
10cc,
Henry Cow,
Japan,
Average White Band,
Lalann,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Nas,
The Searchers,
Anthony Braxton,
The Seeds,
The Sonics,
Groovy Waters,
Ossler,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.