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 Panama and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the guitar 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 Arcadia to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Toni Rubio. All the underground hits.
All John Foxx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Trumans Water record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crime,
Deakin,
Severed Heads,
the Slits,
Delta 5,
Black Bananas,
Fatback Band,
The Walker Brothers,
MC5,
Maleditus Sound,
Erasure,
Bad Manners,
Sparks,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bluetip,
Audionom,
Todd Rundgren,
Gang of Four,
Dennis Brown,
OOIOO,
Kenny Larkin,
Josef K,
The Happenings,
Ronan,
Sonny Sharrock,
Moebius,
Young Marble Giants,
China Crisis,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Vainqueur,
Aaron Thompson,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Donny Hathaway,
the Bar-Kays,
Rod Modell,
Slick Rick,
Theoretical Girls,
H. Thieme,
Glenn Branca,
The Smoke,
David Axelrod,
Mars,
Brass Construction,
Eve St. Jones,
The Selecter,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Dirtbombs,
Gichy Dan,
Bootsy Collins,
Urselle,
Aural Exciters,
Delon & Dalcan,
Saccharine Trust,
Sarah Menescal,
Soulsonic Force,
Metal Thangz,
Desert Stars,
kango's stein massive,
Sandy B,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.