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 Canada 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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Black Dice to the rock 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All H. Thieme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova 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 sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Normal,
Kerri Chandler,
Dual Sessions,
Boredoms,
The Mojo Men,
Marvin Gaye,
Boz Scaggs,
Drexciya,
Crooked Eye,
New Age Steppers,
Gang Starr,
Funkadelic,
Drive Like Jehu,
Blossom Toes,
Tropical Tobacco,
Thee Headcoats,
The Smiths,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Loose Ends,
The Durutti Column,
FM Einheit,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Pylon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sister Nancy,
Pet Shop Boys,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Aaron Thompson,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Harpers Bizarre,
Suicide,
The Monochrome Set,
Adolescents,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Minutemen,
The New Christs,
Royal Trux,
The Slackers,
Accadde A,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Music Machine,
Joy Division,
The Associates,
Ice-T,
Hasil Adkins,
Dark Day,
The Seeds,
Yaz,
Parry Music,
Eric Dolphy,
Heaven 17,
The Gories,
Tears for Fears,
Trumans Water,
The Victims,
Grauzone,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Marc Almond,
Sparks,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.