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 Equatorial Guinea and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Tremeloes to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Peter and Kerry. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joy Division record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Sällskapet,
Sonic Youth,
Funkadelic,
Mission of Burma,
Robert Hood,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pharoah Sanders,
Joe Smooth,
Dave Gahan,
Marmalade,
Technova,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Residents,
UT,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Sonics,
Buzzcocks,
Oneida,
Accadde A,
T. Rex,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Trojans,
Negative Approach,
Y Pants,
Pylon,
Bad Manners,
Robert Görl,
Oblivians,
JFA,
Blossom Toes,
Dead Boys,
Scion,
Flash Fearless,
Gichy Dan,
Subhumans,
The J.B.'s,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Cowsills,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Grauzone,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Tomorrow,
Swans,
Crash Course in Science,
Marc Almond,
Guru Guru,
Delta 5,
DNA,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Newcleus,
Faraquet,
The Smiths,
This Heat,
The Birthday Party,
Idris Muhammad,
Brand Nubian,
Todd Terry,
James Chance & The Contortions,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.