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 Denmark and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Cecil Taylor to the techno 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 Lou Reed. All the underground hits.
All Tears for Fears tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Con Funk Shun record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Normal,
Crooked Eye,
Mark Hollis,
Dark Day,
Subhumans,
Brick,
Hot Snakes,
Swell Maps,
The Remains,
The Selecter,
Ralphi Rosario,
Gil Scott Heron,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Arthur Verocai,
Bobby Byrd,
Popol Vuh,
Minutemen,
Bootsy Collins,
The United States of America,
The Busters,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Porter Ricks,
Arab on Radar,
Soulsonic Force,
Boogie Down Productions,
Underground Resistance,
Kas Product,
Excepter,
Los Fastidios,
The Misunderstood,
Brand Nubian,
Scrapy,
The Victims,
the Slits,
Desert Stars,
Cymande,
Amon Düül,
Pharoah Sanders,
Audionom,
Rhythm & Sound,
Crispy Ambulance,
Neil Young,
Funky Four + One,
The Count Five,
The Divine Comedy,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Boz Scaggs,
Lindisfarne,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lucky Dragons,
Tom Boy,
Rotary Connection,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Country Teasers,
Half Japanese,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Deakin,
Sonic Youth,
Todd Rundgren,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Motions,
The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites.
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.