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 Nicaragua and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 Monolake to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Adolescents tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Dave Gahan,
David McCallum,
Jeff Mills,
Desert Stars,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nik Kershaw,
Nick Fraelich,
Peter and Kerry,
Gichy Dan,
Freddie Wadling,
Simply Red,
the Association,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Martian,
Section 25,
Metal Thangz,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Magazine,
Warsaw,
Index,
Q and Not U,
Khruangbin,
Yaz,
Spoonie Gee,
Donny Hathaway,
David Axelrod,
This Heat,
Brand Nubian,
Lower 48,
CMW,
Carl Craig,
The Doobie Brothers,
Faust,
Eric B and Rakim,
Robert Hood,
Eli Mardock,
Bluetip,
Scientists,
E-Dancer,
The Last Poets,
Altered Images,
The Saints,
Mark Hollis,
Echospace,
Deepchord,
Neil Young,
Cluster,
the Germs,
Hashim,
Piero Umiliani,
The Monochrome Set,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mo-Dettes,
Bad Manners,
Blancmange,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Names,
Agitation Free,
Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears.
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.