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 Kyrgyzstan and from Copenhagen.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 arpeggiator 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 The Evens to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Massinfluence record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ 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 Human League,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sarah Menescal,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
10cc,
Pantaleimon,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Soft Cell,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dead Boys,
Hot Snakes,
Scrapy,
Theoretical Girls,
Kurtis Blow,
Maleditus Sound,
The Alarm Clocks,
Althea and Donna,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Germs,
Brand Nubian,
Wings,
Godley & Creme,
Minor Threat,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kenny Larkin,
The Dirtbombs,
Kerrie Biddell,
Barbara Tucker,
Shuggie Otis,
Stiv Bators,
Siglo XX,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Morten Harket,
The Cure,
Tubeway Army,
Procol Harum,
Dawn Penn,
Lalann,
The Walker Brothers,
Jandek,
Delta 5,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Leaves,
Minutemen,
This Heat,
Freddie Wadling,
The Seeds,
Skarface,
Matthew Halsall,
Grauzone,
Juan Atkins,
The Star Department,
Slave,
Danielle Patucci,
Tommy Roe,
Radio Birdman,
Isaac Hayes,
Gang Starr,
Tropical Tobacco,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Golliwogs,
The Gap Band,
The Selecter,
Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman.
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.