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 Venezuela and from Madrid.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 chamberlin 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 Aural Exciters to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All The Fugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rakim 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Susan Cadogan,
June Days,
The Music Machine,
Angry Samoans,
New Order,
Neil Young,
Q and Not U,
This Heat,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Blackbyrds,
The Mojo Men,
Popol Vuh,
Lou Christie,
Wally Richardson,
The Saints,
DNA,
Symarip,
The Victims,
Aswad,
Crime,
Talk Talk,
Bob Dylan,
Monolake,
Nas,
The Happenings,
Jacob Miller,
Quantec,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Parry Music,
the Bar-Kays,
Barclay James Harvest,
Funkadelic,
DJ Style,
Ossler,
Chrome,
the Human League,
Pharoah Sanders,
Glambeats Corp.,
Liliput,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bauhaus,
Yazoo,
Slick Rick,
Moby Grape,
Ken Boothe,
Ronan,
Procol Harum,
Gong,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Misunderstood,
Neu!,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
AZ,
In Retrospect,
Tim Buckley,
Interpol,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bluetip,
Skaos,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Darondo,
Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics.
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.