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 Ivory Coast and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Bobby Byrd to the rap 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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All The Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Joe & The Fish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Oblivians,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Young Marble Giants,
Danielle Patucci,
Lou Christie,
The American Breed,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Names,
Fad Gadget,
Eric B and Rakim,
Black Moon,
The Smoke,
Matthew Halsall,
Barry Ungar,
Slave,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Archie Shepp,
Todd Terry,
Flash Fearless,
Thompson Twins,
PIL,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Pole,
Guru Guru,
The Saints,
Livin' Joy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Shuggie Otis,
Absolute Body Control,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gun Club,
Interpol,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ken Boothe,
Man Parrish,
The Durutti Column,
Moebius,
David Axelrod,
Con Funk Shun,
JFA,
The United States of America,
The Grass Roots,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gil Scott Heron,
Rapeman,
The Pop Group,
Juan Atkins,
CMW,
The Blackbyrds,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Roxette,
Aswad,
The Tremeloes,
Wasted Youth,
The Evens,
Johnny Clarke,
U.S. Maple,
Blake Baxter,
Scratch Acid,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.