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 Zambia and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Grandmaster Flash to the grunge 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 The Smoke. All the underground hits.
All Lyres tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cameo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nik Kershaw,
Black Moon,
Eddi Front,
Mark Hollis,
Man Eating Sloth,
Robert Wyatt,
the Normal,
Mary Jane Girls,
Fat Boys,
The Motions,
The Victims,
Brass Construction,
Urselle,
The United States of America,
Infiniti,
Monolake,
The Gories,
Pussy Galore,
Faraquet,
MC5,
A Certain Ratio,
Jeff Mills,
Deakin,
Marshall Jefferson,
Japan,
Amon Düül II,
Sister Nancy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kaleidoscope,
Janne Schatter,
Barrington Levy,
Peter and Kerry,
Accadde A,
U.S. Maple,
Cecil Taylor,
CMW,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Sisters of Mercy,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Blues Magoos,
Fela Kuti,
Marvin Gaye,
Trumans Water,
Ohio Players,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Flipper,
Agent Orange,
Rotary Connection,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Theoretical Girls,
Masters at Work,
Idris Muhammad,
Gastr Del Sol,
Scratch Acid,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Durutti Column,
K-Klass,
Erykah Badu,
The Associates,
Wolf Eyes,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.