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 Korea North and from Manchester.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Arthur Verocai to the punk 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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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?
The Saints,
Ultravox,
OOIOO,
Rapeman,
The Cramps,
The Associates,
The Slits,
Erasure,
Janne Schatter,
Minor Threat,
Blake Baxter,
World's Most,
The Sonics,
Clear Light,
DJ Sneak,
The Knickerbockers,
Roy Ayers,
Morten Harket,
Rites of Spring,
Amon Düül,
Chris & Cosey,
Joe Smooth,
Wolf Eyes,
Mission of Burma,
Metal Thangz,
Whodini,
Grauzone,
Ten City,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Boogie Down Productions,
Faust,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rakim,
the Slits,
The Names,
Ken Boothe,
The Trojans,
Average White Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Hashim,
Johnny Osbourne,
L. Decosne,
Public Enemy,
Godley & Creme,
Ossler,
Quadrant,
T.S.O.L.,
Chrome,
Moby Grape,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Victims,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Last Poets,
Moss Icon,
Kayak,
Marshall Jefferson,
Jawbox,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bill Near,
Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu.
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.