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 St Lucia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 Donald Fagen 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 OOIOO to the rap 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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All Camberwell Now tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tommy Roe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harmonia,
cv313,
Reagan Youth,
The Modern Lovers,
Japan,
Agent Orange,
Barry Ungar,
The Happenings,
Gang Starr,
Curtis Mayfield,
Todd Terry,
Heaven 17,
Hoover,
The Pop Group,
The Motions,
Blake Baxter,
David McCallum,
ABC,
Kerrie Biddell,
Drive Like Jehu,
Essential Logic,
Quantec,
Sonic Youth,
The Stooges,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Fortunes,
Ultra Naté,
Gastr Del Sol,
Laurel Aitken,
The Durutti Column,
The Cure,
The Gap Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Danielle Patucci,
Rapeman,
Joy Division,
U.S. Maple,
Barbara Tucker,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Neu!,
Sarah Menescal,
Pussy Galore,
Graham Central Station,
Subhumans,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Moody Blues,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Joensuu 1685,
Moebius,
Silicon Teens,
The Fall,
The Toasters,
Dennis Brown,
The Offenders,
the Normal,
New Order,
Cheater Slicks,
Bad Manners,
Wasted Youth,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.