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 Armenia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Accra.
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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Drive Like Jehu to the grunge 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 The Martian. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fort Wilson Riot record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Throbbing Gristle,
Joe Finger,
Neu!,
Scott Walker,
Marvin Gaye,
Rufus Thomas,
Amon Düül II,
Dead Boys,
The Red Krayola,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Busters,
John Lydon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Funkadelic,
Subhumans,
Dave Gahan,
World's Most,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gastr Del Sol,
Barrington Levy,
Scientists,
Gong,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kayak,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Warren Ellis,
Can,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Infiniti,
Skriet,
Sex Pistols,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Durutti Column,
the Germs,
The Victims,
Dual Sessions,
Bill Near,
The Flesh Eaters,
Traffic Nightmare,
Inner City,
Silicon Teens,
The Pop Group,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Groovy Waters,
E-Dancer,
Radiohead,
Liliput,
Lou Reed,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Modern Lovers,
The Kinks,
Wire,
Severed Heads,
Outsiders,
Clear Light,
Brothers Johnson,
The Smoke,
Slave,
The Selecter,
Masters at Work,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jawbox,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.