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 the UAE and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Neon Judgement to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Duran Duran record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Mantronix,
Ponytail,
the Soft Cell,
Wally Richardson,
Black Flag,
Terry Callier,
Blake Baxter,
Average White Band,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Interpol,
Subhumans,
Quadrant,
Skriet,
Jeff Mills,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Wire,
Babytalk,
June of 44,
Kurtis Blow,
Scan 7,
Magma,
Bobby Sherman,
Lightning Bolt,
Jawbox,
cv313,
H. Thieme,
Young Marble Giants,
Trumans Water,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Shuggie Otis,
Blancmange,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Names,
Hasil Adkins,
One Last Wish,
T.S.O.L.,
The Beau Brummels,
Rakim,
Sister Nancy,
ABC,
Faust,
Duran Duran,
Neil Young,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Amon Düül II,
Black Moon,
Ronnie Foster,
Dawn Penn,
Fad Gadget,
Donald Byrd,
Oblivians,
The Mummies,
Rites of Spring,
Minnie Riperton,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Tim Buckley,
Robert Wyatt,
Faraquet,
The Fortunes,
Scion, Scion, Scion, Scion.
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.