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 Tajikistan and from Copenhagen.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
The Toasters,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dave Gahan,
The United States of America,
Harpers Bizarre,
Thompson Twins,
Joy Division,
Funkadelic,
Fort Wilson Riot,
These Immortal Souls,
Gang Starr,
Joensuu 1685,
Black Pus,
Ralphi Rosario,
Crash Course in Science,
Sex Pistols,
The Knickerbockers,
Gichy Dan,
Jerry's Kids,
Byron Stingily,
Sällskapet,
Lalann,
Josef K,
Idris Muhammad,
Faraquet,
Joe Smooth,
The Pop Group,
Stereo Dub,
the Association,
The Smoke,
The Fugs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Evens,
The Buckinghams,
A Certain Ratio,
Index,
Ken Boothe,
Drexciya,
MC5,
Ossler,
Alphaville,
Magma,
Scratch Acid,
New Age Steppers,
The Blues Magoos,
David Axelrod,
Groovy Waters,
Suicide,
Boredoms,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Scion,
Rosa Yemen,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Fuzztones,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Residents,
Ultravox,
Avey Tare,
The Misunderstood,
The Cowsills,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.