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 Lebanon and from Calgary.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 spring reverb 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 Absolute Body Control to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Jeru the Damaja. All the underground hits.
All The American Breed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dennis Brown record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fort Wilson Riot,
Erykah Badu,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Soul II Soul,
Archie Shepp,
Chris & Cosey,
The Pop Group,
The Walker Brothers,
Essential Logic,
Soulsonic Force,
The Skatalites,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
John Lydon,
Tears for Fears,
June Days,
X-101,
F. McDonald,
Wings,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Clear Light,
Barrington Levy,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Heaven 17,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry's Kids,
Pagans,
Agitation Free,
The Sonics,
Alison Limerick,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bill Wells,
Scion,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Faraquet,
Youth Brigade,
Man Parrish,
Smog,
The Human League,
Grauzone,
Beasts of Bourbon,
K-Klass,
Bobby Womack,
the Human League,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Masters at Work,
Soft Cell,
Lower 48,
Eric Dolphy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sonic Youth,
Kenny Larkin,
Camouflage,
Wasted Youth,
Supertramp,
The Raincoats,
Goldenarms,
Buzzcocks,
Oneida,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Cramps,
the Slits,
The Index, The Index, The Index, The Index.
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.