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 Jamaica and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Salvador.
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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Misunderstood to the jazz 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 The Smoke. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter & Gordon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron 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?
Minutemen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Underground Resistance,
Brothers Johnson,
Byron Stingily,
The Happenings,
The Golliwogs,
Max Romeo,
Inner City,
Dark Day,
Sight & Sound,
Thompson Twins,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Michelle Simonal,
the Bar-Kays,
Davy DMX,
Public Enemy,
The Offenders,
The Electric Prunes,
Ralphi Rosario,
D'Angelo,
Echospace,
DJ Sneak,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Metal Thangz,
Public Image Ltd.,
Yaz,
Mantronix,
Deakin,
Fugazi,
Albert Ayler,
Interpol,
Cecil Taylor,
Qualms,
Zapp,
Camouflage,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Shadows of Knight,
the Fania All-Stars,
Frankie Knuckles,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Alphaville,
Hot Snakes,
Rites of Spring,
Hardrive,
Television Personalities,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gang Starr,
The Blackbyrds,
Cabaret Voltaire,
AZ,
L. Decosne,
Fad Gadget,
Scratch Acid,
Clear Light,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Suburban Knight,
Reuben Wilson,
Arab on Radar,
The Alarm Clocks,
Maurizio,
Aaron Thompson,
June of 44, June of 44, June of 44, June of 44.
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.