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 Jordan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 Tehran and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 guitar 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 The Human League to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sixth Finger. All the underground hits.
All The Zeros tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
PIL,
Ultra Naté,
Steve Hackett,
Eurythmics,
Lyres,
The Fire Engines,
Erykah Badu,
Pole,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Qualms,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pagans,
AZ,
Fat Boys,
The Buckinghams,
Jeff Mills,
Second Layer,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Hot Snakes,
The Detroit Cobras,
JFA,
Nik Kershaw,
The Busters,
Amazonics,
the Normal,
Dave Gahan,
Chris & Cosey,
Swans,
Idris Muhammad,
Matthew Halsall,
Brothers Johnson,
The Victims,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Todd Rundgren,
Joy Division,
Zero Boys,
Moby Grape,
Glambeats Corp.,
Eddi Front,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
H. Thieme,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Cal Tjader,
The Grass Roots,
The Pretty Things,
Brick,
Hashim,
Fugazi,
Bootsy Collins,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Subhumans,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Red Krayola,
Derrick May,
Slave,
Wings,
The Blues Magoos,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.