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 Nepal and from Tokyo.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Wally Richardson to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fuzztones,
The Skatalites,
Harmonia,
Bobby Sherman,
Hot Snakes,
Pagans,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultravox,
Sight & Sound,
Sandy B,
The Mummies,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Erasure,
Das Ding,
Scientists,
Funkadelic,
Avey Tare,
Soulsonic Force,
The Birthday Party,
U.S. Maple,
Malaria!,
Ralphi Rosario,
Hardrive,
The Leaves,
Wally Richardson,
Rekid,
Magazine,
The Trojans,
Echospace,
Intrusion,
Ultra Naté,
Sarah Menescal,
Joey Negro,
Brick,
Alton Ellis,
D'Angelo,
Lalann,
June of 44,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Slits,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Gories,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Angels of Light,
Bush Tetras,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Robert Wyatt,
Trumans Water,
Derrick May,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
A Certain Ratio,
The Motions,
Jeff Lynne,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Rites of Spring,
Idris Muhammad,
48th St. Collective,
Tommy Roe,
Mary Jane Girls,
CMW,
Chris & Cosey,
Judy Mowatt,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.