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 Yemen and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 PIL to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Moby Grape tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Banda Bassotti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Sun Ra,
MDC,
Oblivians,
Terrestrial Tones,
Nik Kershaw,
Max Romeo,
Theoretical Girls,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Marvin Gaye,
Anakelly,
Henry Cow,
Lyres,
Masters at Work,
The J.B.'s,
Ituana,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kayak,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gang Starr,
Alton Ellis,
Mission of Burma,
Crooked Eye,
The Raincoats,
Circle Jerks,
Toni Rubio,
Black Flag,
Piero Umiliani,
Lucky Dragons,
Brick,
Cybotron,
The Misunderstood,
Danielle Patucci,
The Sound,
The Fuzztones,
Skarface,
Ultravox,
The Alarm Clocks,
Boogie Down Productions,
Outsiders,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Arthur Verocai,
Television,
the Sonics,
Scan 7,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Mantronix,
The Angels of Light,
Patti Smith,
Deakin,
Electric Prunes,
Metal Thangz,
The Blackbyrds,
Television Personalities,
Flamin' Groovies,
June of 44,
Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne.
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.