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 Yemen and from Philadelphia.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and London.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Skarface to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bad Manners. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Ten City,
Glenn Branca,
Pylon,
Essential Logic,
The Index,
Blancmange,
Grauzone,
Barry Ungar,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Interpol,
Susan Cadogan,
The Monochrome Set,
Duran Duran,
Second Layer,
X-Ray Spex,
David McCallum,
Tres Demented,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Divine Comedy,
Kaleidoscope,
Iggy Pop,
Joe Finger,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cybotron,
Bauhaus,
Eurythmics,
Au Pairs,
Henry Cow,
Gang Green,
Althea and Donna,
Gastr Del Sol,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Five Americans,
Barrington Levy,
Big Daddy Kane,
LL Cool J,
Alison Limerick,
Slick Rick,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Birthday Party,
Underground Resistance,
Don Cherry,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Brass Construction,
Little Man,
Desert Stars,
Eddi Front,
Ultravox,
The Durutti Column,
Sugar Minott,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Spandau Ballet,
Jeff Mills,
Dual Sessions,
Ice-T,
The Saints,
Hasil Adkins,
Thompson Twins,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.