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 Suriname and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Donald Fagen 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 Toasters to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Judy Mowatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Flag,
China Crisis,
The Move,
The Fall,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Todd Rundgren,
Fela Kuti,
Con Funk Shun,
Gichy Dan,
Idris Muhammad,
Moby Grape,
Joe Smooth,
UT,
Leonard Cohen,
AZ,
Livin' Joy,
Urselle,
Alison Limerick,
Ludus,
Surgeon,
Grey Daturas,
Joy Division,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Accadde A,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Modern Lovers,
Jeru the Damaja,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pagans,
Little Man,
Deepchord,
Technova,
Wolf Eyes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Minutemen,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Chris Corsano,
Fad Gadget,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Skriet,
The Misunderstood,
The Grass Roots,
Supertramp,
The Star Department,
Absolute Body Control,
Moebius,
Henry Cow,
Essential Logic,
Anakelly,
Rapeman,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Quadrant,
Loose Ends,
Clear Light,
the Sonics,
Alphaville,
Robert Görl,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.
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.