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 Guyana and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Underground Resistance to the rap 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 Mantronix. All the underground hits.
All London Community Gospel Choir tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ash Ra Tempel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pylon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eddi Front,
The Motions,
Gang Green,
The Victims,
Slave,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Amon Düül II,
Ten City,
a-ha,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Vogues,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jacob Miller,
Groovy Waters,
Brick,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sight & Sound,
Nation of Ulysses,
Graham Central Station,
Barrington Levy,
Minutemen,
Funky Four + One,
Mad Mike,
Bobby Sherman,
Cymande,
The Fire Engines,
K-Klass,
Funkadelic,
Soft Machine,
JFA,
Thee Headcoats,
John Holt,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The New Christs,
The Skatalites,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Pierre Henry,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Stetsasonic,
Marvin Gaye,
Bootsy Collins,
Scion,
Zero Boys,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Fall,
The Fugs,
The Moleskins,
Mars,
Soulsonic Force,
E-Dancer,
Eden Ahbez,
Desert Stars,
Juan Atkins,
The Index,
Maleditus Sound,
The Last Poets,
Das Ding,
Loose Ends,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Josef K,
Matthew Bourne,
Prince Buster,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.