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 Copenhagen.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 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 Eli Mardock to the funk 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 Nas. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Heaven 17,
Shuggie Otis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
John Cale,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Q65,
Dual Sessions,
Marcia Griffiths,
Crime,
The Mojo Men,
Ken Boothe,
The Seeds,
Surgeon,
Quando Quango,
David Bowie,
Moby Grape,
Delon & Dalcan,
Joe Finger,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ronan,
James White and The Blacks,
Zapp,
Susan Cadogan,
Unwound,
Ossler,
Tubeway Army,
Davy DMX,
Intrusion,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Derrick May,
Bush Tetras,
Aloha Tigers,
Khruangbin,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
X-102,
Black Pus,
Grauzone,
Yusef Lateef,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Junior Murvin,
Kaleidoscope,
Scion,
The Raincoats,
The Doors,
Brand Nubian,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Juan Atkins,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Faust,
Eurythmics,
R.M.O.,
Agitation Free,
Grandmaster Flash,
John Lydon,
Tres Demented,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Kinks,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.