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 Bahrain and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Todd Terry to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
The Selecter,
These Immortal Souls,
Aaron Thompson,
The Sound,
Monks,
The Beau Brummels,
Talk Talk,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Ronnie Foster,
Silicon Teens,
the Bar-Kays,
Avey Tare,
Pere Ubu,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Neil Young,
Gang Gang Dance,
Fela Kuti,
Newcleus,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
U.S. Maple,
Shoche,
Aswad,
The Techniques,
Moebius,
Negative Approach,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Cowsills,
June of 44,
R.M.O.,
Rhythm & Sound,
Angry Samoans,
Stockholm Monsters,
Motorama,
Deadbeat,
Altered Images,
the Slits,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Kinks,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Country Teasers,
Soul II Soul,
Amazonics,
Easy Going,
China Crisis,
the Association,
Underground Resistance,
Pole,
Sonic Youth,
Rufus Thomas,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Gerry Rafferty,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kerrie Biddell,
K-Klass,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Juan Atkins,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.