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 Slovenia and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 Johnny Osbourne to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Junior Murvin. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kayak record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mantronix,
The Slits,
Smog,
Monks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Smoke,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rekid,
Amon Düül,
Jacques Brel,
Quantec,
Oneida,
Agitation Free,
Marmalade,
Moebius,
LL Cool J,
Todd Rundgren,
Japan,
The Pretty Things,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bobby Byrd,
Nas,
Scrapy,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scan 7,
Zero Boys,
Don Cherry,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Tubeway Army,
The Trojans,
Livin' Joy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Dead C,
Fat Boys,
Con Funk Shun,
Panda Bear,
The Sonics,
Nick Fraelich,
These Immortal Souls,
Albert Ayler,
the Soft Cell,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Gladiators,
Jesper Dahlback,
Dual Sessions,
Cheater Slicks,
Barrington Levy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Main Source,
Mark Hollis,
Talk Talk,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Techniques,
Yazoo,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Alphaville,
Rufus Thomas,
Chris Corsano,
Eli Mardock,
Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish.
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.