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 Micronesia and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Holger Czukay 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 Funky Four + One to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Mills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
L. Decosne,
Average White Band,
Silicon Teens,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Derrick Morgan,
Lightning Bolt,
Darondo,
The Cure,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Stetsasonic,
Rosa Yemen,
Spoonie Gee,
Kayak,
Heaven 17,
Ludus,
The Tremeloes,
Slave,
The Mojo Men,
Funky Four + One,
Zero Boys,
X-102,
Rapeman,
Motorama,
Nico,
Lou Christie,
Animal Collective,
Joe Smooth,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pet Shop Boys,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Smiths,
Colin Newman,
Accadde A,
Rites of Spring,
Stiv Bators,
Tommy Roe,
Charles Mingus,
June of 44,
Babytalk,
Scratch Acid,
Main Source,
John Coltrane,
Yellowson,
Inner City,
Interpol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Alton Ellis,
Visage,
Ken Boothe,
Cluster,
T.S.O.L.,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Fugs,
Marvin Gaye,
Eric Dolphy,
Maleditus Sound,
Parry Music,
DNA,
The Star Department,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.