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 Cape Verde and from Manila.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Make Up to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 F. McDonald. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Howard Jones 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Modern Lovers,
The Leaves,
CMW,
Second Layer,
Yusef Lateef,
Minnie Riperton,
The Litter,
China Crisis,
Radiopuhelimet,
Henry Cow,
Cybotron,
The Music Machine,
Pantytec,
D'Angelo,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sarah Menescal,
Peter & Gordon,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Girls At Our Best!,
Das Ding,
Barbara Tucker,
the Germs,
Kas Product,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Last Poets,
One Last Wish,
These Immortal Souls,
Qualms,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Radiohead,
Cameo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kenny Larkin,
Tommy Roe,
The Moleskins,
Faust,
Flash Fearless,
Public Image Ltd.,
A Certain Ratio,
Trumans Water,
Colin Newman,
Electric Prunes,
Avey Tare,
Warren Ellis,
The Raincoats,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Sound,
Minny Pops,
Maleditus Sound,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Thee Headcoats,
Vladislav Delay,
Jacob Miller,
Althea and Donna,
Tim Buckley,
The Star Department,
Letta Mbulu,
Sexual Harrassment,
Brick,
Talk Talk,
Deakin,
Sun Ra,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.