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 Taiwan and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 theremin 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 Ronan to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radiopuhelimet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The J.B.'s,
John Holt,
The American Breed,
Funky Four + One,
Camouflage,
Sparks,
David Bowie,
Bobby Womack,
Absolute Body Control,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Television,
New Age Steppers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Eurythmics,
T.S.O.L.,
Lindisfarne,
Radio Birdman,
Bobby Byrd,
Matthew Bourne,
Pole,
Scion,
Barclay James Harvest,
FM Einheit,
The Monks,
Minutemen,
Unrelated Segments,
Mandrill,
Crooked Eye,
Fatback Band,
Jacob Miller,
Jawbox,
Boz Scaggs,
X-101,
Gang Starr,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Andrew Hill,
The Moleskins,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Yazoo,
Eric Copeland,
The Tremeloes,
KRS-One,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bang On A Can,
A Certain Ratio,
Blossom Toes,
Don Cherry,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bluetip,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Soft Cell,
Brothers Johnson,
The Durutti Column,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Germs, the Germs, the Germs, the Germs.
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.