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 Mozambique and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 808 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 Brass Construction to the electroclash 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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gian Franco Pienzio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
Carl Craig,
10cc,
Peter and Kerry,
Joe Finger,
The Last Poets,
Eric B and Rakim,
Grauzone,
Slave,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Crash Course in Science,
The Invisible,
Slick Rick,
Bush Tetras,
Blancmange,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Goldenarms,
The Count Five,
OOIOO,
Al Stewart,
Stetsasonic,
the Bar-Kays,
Cheater Slicks,
cv313,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ituana,
Bronski Beat,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Absolute Body Control,
Brothers Johnson,
Albert Ayler,
Negative Approach,
Charles Mingus,
Infiniti,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Magma,
Ken Boothe,
Mad Mike,
Loose Ends,
Scratch Acid,
Jeff Lynne,
Technova,
The Victims,
Fela Kuti,
Popol Vuh,
Audionom,
The Gladiators,
Khruangbin,
Danielle Patucci,
Mandrill,
the Association,
Section 25,
Peter & Gordon,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Leaves,
Thompson Twins,
Gang of Four,
John Cale,
F. McDonald,
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.