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 Senegal and from New York.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Eve St. Jones to the rock 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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All The Red Krayola tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron 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 linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Sherman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Cure,
Grey Daturas,
Lindisfarne,
OOIOO,
Crispian St. Peters,
Unwound,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Brand Nubian,
Marine Girls,
Gong,
The Grass Roots,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Erykah Badu,
Rotary Connection,
Wasted Youth,
Nick Fraelich,
Black Flag,
Blossom Toes,
Brass Construction,
The Human League,
The Vogues,
Maurizio,
Dead Boys,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pet Shop Boys,
Model 500,
Prince Buster,
Bill Wells,
Adolescents,
Robert Wyatt,
Chris & Cosey,
The Velvet Underground,
Duran Duran,
Pierre Henry,
The Residents,
The Zeros,
Mo-Dettes,
Ornette Coleman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Robert Hood,
The Angels of Light,
The Modern Lovers,
Livin' Joy,
Jawbox,
The Mojo Men,
X-Ray Spex,
Altered Images,
Dawn Penn,
Alice Coltrane,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Danielle Patucci,
The Last Poets,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Depeche Mode,
Nils Olav,
the Normal,
Kurtis Blow,
Cymande,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Yaz,
Spoonie Gee,
The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band.
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.