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 Bangladesh and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 Houston and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the techno 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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Pulsallama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Monks,
Subhumans,
The Blues Magoos,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Kas Product,
Mo-Dettes,
Matthew Halsall,
Surgeon,
The Mummies,
Rod Modell,
Metal Thangz,
AZ,
The Golliwogs,
Camberwell Now,
Porter Ricks,
The Standells,
Dual Sessions,
Tom Boy,
Man Eating Sloth,
Scrapy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Warren Ellis,
John Foxx,
UT,
Royal Trux,
Ultra Naté,
The Seeds,
The Cure,
Lou Reed,
Vainqueur,
Peter & Gordon,
Grey Daturas,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Rufus Thomas,
Q and Not U,
The Neon Judgement,
Terry Callier,
Magazine,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Delta 5,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Zapp,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Count Five,
Minnie Riperton,
Organ,
Fad Gadget,
Sonic Youth,
Ken Boothe,
Section 25,
Pussy Galore,
The Skatalites,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Susan Cadogan,
The Vogues,
Fatback Band,
Barry Ungar,
Lee Hazlewood,
U.S. Maple,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet, Sällskapet.
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.