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 Kuwait and from Johannesburg.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 snare 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 Bobby Byrd to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine. All the underground hits.
All The Velvet Underground 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 punk 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 sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
The Human League,
PIL,
Iggy Pop,
Susan Cadogan,
UT,
James White and The Blacks,
Bobby Byrd,
the Soft Cell,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Shuggie Otis,
Minor Threat,
The Index,
Matthew Halsall,
Lakeside,
The Divine Comedy,
Sparks,
The Techniques,
Fluxion,
The Sonics,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Jesper Dahlback,
Drive Like Jehu,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Quando Quango,
The Music Machine,
Lindisfarne,
Inner City,
Groovy Waters,
Drexciya,
The Seeds,
Guru Guru,
Lower 48,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Soul II Soul,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lucky Dragons,
Rapeman,
Marmalade,
Simply Red,
Duran Duran,
Negative Approach,
The Durutti Column,
Graham Central Station,
The Misunderstood,
Arthur Verocai,
Animal Collective,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Fatback Band,
Henry Cow,
Livin' Joy,
Bobby Sherman,
Glenn Branca,
Kayak,
Gang Starr,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Leonard Cohen,
Al Stewart,
Rekid,
Nas,
Letta Mbulu,
Organ,
JFA, JFA, JFA, JFA.
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.