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 Bangladesh and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Human League to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
One Last Wish,
The Grass Roots,
Nation of Ulysses,
Michelle Simonal,
Thompson Twins,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bronski Beat,
Chrome,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Quantec,
X-102,
Marshall Jefferson,
Soulsonic Force,
John Holt,
the Sonics,
OOIOO,
Terry Callier,
Funkadelic,
The Doobie Brothers,
Average White Band,
Gang of Four,
Nick Fraelich,
The Misunderstood,
Pet Shop Boys,
L. Decosne,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Evens,
The New Christs,
Duran Duran,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Animal Collective,
Marmalade,
Oneida,
Judy Mowatt,
Derrick May,
Monks,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Accadde A,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gang Green,
Robert Wyatt,
The Tremeloes,
The Sound,
Fugazi,
The Last Poets,
Dual Sessions,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Motions,
The Standells,
Guru Guru,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Moody Blues,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Donny Hathaway,
Johnny Clarke,
Rotary Connection,
Ice-T,
The Smoke,
Brick,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.