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 New Zealand and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlbäck tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Move record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Adolescents record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Neil Young,
Agitation Free,
Gong,
Basic Channel,
Chris & Cosey,
Piero Umiliani,
Marc Almond,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Pretty Things,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Blossom Toes,
Josef K,
The Mojo Men,
Steve Hackett,
Nico,
The Trojans,
The Doors,
New York Dolls,
a-ha,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Radiohead,
The Alarm Clocks,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lalann,
Eden Ahbez,
Von Mondo,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Beasts of Bourbon,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jandek,
Moebius,
Deadbeat,
Aaron Thompson,
Thee Headcoats,
Electric Prunes,
Ultimate Spinach,
DJ Sneak,
Flash Fearless,
Bush Tetras,
Bad Manners,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Slackers,
Young Marble Giants,
Banda Bassotti,
the Sonics,
Gregory Isaacs,
T. Rex,
The Motions,
Skarface,
Magma,
Harry Pussy,
Goldenarms,
H. Thieme,
The Sonics,
Urselle,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.