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 Pakistan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 David Bowie 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 Eddi Front to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Lungfish. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cabaret Voltaire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
X-101,
Mr. Review,
China Crisis,
Danielle Patucci,
Con Funk Shun,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mo-Dettes,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Erykah Badu,
Tears for Fears,
Gregory Isaacs,
Livin' Joy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Evens,
Stereo Dub,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Black Sheep,
The Slackers,
Yusef Lateef,
E-Dancer,
Dave Gahan,
Iggy Pop,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Animal Collective,
Harry Pussy,
Aural Exciters,
Quadrant,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Leaves,
Camouflage,
The New Christs,
The Music Machine,
Rotary Connection,
Bad Manners,
Quando Quango,
Hot Snakes,
David McCallum,
Swell Maps,
Television Personalities,
Stetsasonic,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Buckinghams,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Idris Muhammad,
Ultra Naté,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Black Flag,
Marcia Griffiths,
Jandek,
Lower 48,
Robert Wyatt,
Desert Stars,
Echospace,
the Human League,
Patti Smith,
Marine Girls,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Litter,
Talk Talk,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.