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 Mongolia and from Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Tim Buckley to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Banda Bassotti 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?
Swell Maps,
Nas,
One Last Wish,
Don Cherry,
MC5,
Pulsallama,
Soulsonic Force,
The Fugs,
Drexciya,
Duran Duran,
Flash Fearless,
The Raincoats,
Simply Red,
Derrick Morgan,
Sister Nancy,
June of 44,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Invisible,
Thee Headcoats,
Inner City,
Dawn Penn,
Japan,
Scientists,
Delon & Dalcan,
Fela Kuti,
Banda Bassotti,
The Beau Brummels,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Trojans,
Tubeway Army,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Radiohead,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Little Man,
Glambeats Corp.,
Yusef Lateef,
The Count Five,
Iggy Pop,
Gichy Dan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Scrapy,
the Germs,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bluetip,
Aural Exciters,
Smog,
Joy Division,
Angry Samoans,
Fear,
Moebius,
Amazonics,
Shuggie Otis,
Quadrant,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mantronix,
Schoolly D,
The Kinks,
Black Pus,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.