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 Tonga and from Spokane.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Trumans Water to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pylon. All the underground hits.
All Icehouse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
Loose Ends,
Soft Machine,
Circle Jerks,
Tom Boy,
La Düsseldorf,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
AZ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mandrill,
The Sound,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Cramps,
Cal Tjader,
Sam Rivers,
Television Personalities,
Reagan Youth,
The Smiths,
Model 500,
Shoche,
The United States of America,
Pylon,
The Five Americans,
The Smoke,
The Dirtbombs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Neu!,
Lebanon Hanover,
Eli Mardock,
Eric B and Rakim,
Pulsallama,
OOIOO,
Symarip,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Unwound,
Goldenarms,
F. McDonald,
Slave,
Trumans Water,
Delon & Dalcan,
B.T. Express,
Amon Düül II,
Royal Trux,
Pagans,
The Dave Clark Five,
Drive Like Jehu,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Buckinghams,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Star Department,
LL Cool J,
Dave Gahan,
Wings,
Harmonia,
Make Up,
Flash Fearless,
Fluxion,
the Sonics,
Q65,
The Remains,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.