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 Laos and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Soul Sonic Force to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sexual Harrassment. All the underground hits.
All Skriet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crime,
10cc,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sonic Youth,
Anakelly,
Eric B and Rakim,
48th St. Collective,
Wings,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Con Funk Shun,
Ponytail,
Man Parrish,
The Knickerbockers,
The Seeds,
Scion,
Quadrant,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marc Almond,
FM Einheit,
The Zeros,
Delon & Dalcan,
Los Fastidios,
Procol Harum,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gang of Four,
Juan Atkins,
X-Ray Spex,
Alphaville,
Mission of Burma,
Fat Boys,
Cluster,
Soulsonic Force,
Sparks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Dual Sessions,
The Residents,
Gastr Del Sol,
Loose Ends,
Liliput,
The Grass Roots,
Siglo XX,
Y Pants,
Crooked Eye,
Index,
Mary Jane Girls,
Toni Rubio,
Ice-T,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
David Axelrod,
Minor Threat,
Negative Approach,
Yazoo,
Bobby Byrd,
The Cowsills,
Smog,
L. Decosne,
The Black Dice,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
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.