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 Seychelles and from Manila.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Associates to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Eurythmics. All the underground hits.
All Howard Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boredoms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tears for Fears,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Barbara Tucker,
Unrelated Segments,
Bobby Sherman,
Carl Craig,
The Sonics,
Little Man,
The Modern Lovers,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Tubeway Army,
Bill Near,
Danielle Patucci,
Groovy Waters,
Fad Gadget,
Avey Tare,
Soul II Soul,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Stiv Bators,
Dorothy Ashby,
X-Ray Spex,
Isaac Hayes,
Grandmaster Flash,
Radiohead,
Royal Trux,
Byron Stingily,
Lou Reed,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Charles Mingus,
Jawbox,
Eve St. Jones,
Arthur Verocai,
Ituana,
Schoolly D,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jimmy McGriff,
Crooked Eye,
Quadrant,
Organ,
June of 44,
The Mummies,
Brand Nubian,
The Fuzztones,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Barracudas,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
June Days,
Iggy Pop,
Glambeats Corp.,
Hardrive,
Inner City,
The Invisible,
Oblivians,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Cure,
Jandek,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sam Rivers,
Altered Images,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.