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 Burundi and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba 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 The Alarm Clocks to the techno 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 Adolescents. All the underground hits.
All Bauhaus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Average White Band,
Wire,
Newcleus,
John Cale,
New Order,
The Modern Lovers,
Black Bananas,
Mission of Burma,
B.T. Express,
Jacob Miller,
The Fall,
Massinfluence,
Brothers Johnson,
MC5,
The Slackers,
Dual Sessions,
The Beau Brummels,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Skaos,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Vladislav Delay,
Easy Going,
Robert Hood,
Desert Stars,
Skarface,
Juan Atkins,
Gregory Isaacs,
Das Ding,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Can,
Reuben Wilson,
Essential Logic,
Bobby Womack,
Mark Hollis,
Cybotron,
The Divine Comedy,
Japan,
Porter Ricks,
Lou Reed,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Clear Light,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Fuzztones,
The Trojans,
The Flesh Eaters,
Subhumans,
Drexciya,
Iggy Pop,
the Human League,
Bluetip,
Jeff Mills,
Bobby Sherman,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kaleidoscope,
The Fugs,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Television,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.