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 Grenada and from Taipei.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Talk Talk to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxy Music,
Camouflage,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Quadrant,
The Standells,
Piero Umiliani,
Lebanon Hanover,
Con Funk Shun,
Davy DMX,
Fat Boys,
Todd Terry,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Cymande,
MDC,
Fluxion,
Lower 48,
Fear,
Arab on Radar,
Mantronix,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Grass Roots,
Moby Grape,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Black Flag,
Barrington Levy,
The Cowsills,
The Searchers,
Alton Ellis,
The Music Machine,
Marshall Jefferson,
Patti Smith,
Moss Icon,
John Cale,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Charles Mingus,
Lalann,
James Chance & The Contortions,
James White and The Blacks,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pagans,
Danielle Patucci,
The Techniques,
Young Marble Giants,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Dennis Brown,
Jacques Brel,
New Age Steppers,
The Neon Judgement,
the Sonics,
Parry Music,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ponytail,
EPMD,
A Certain Ratio,
ABC,
Malaria!,
Tomorrow,
Flipper,
The Alarm Clocks,
Throbbing Gristle,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Porter Ricks,
Robert Wyatt,
The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas.
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.