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 Pakistan and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 organ 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 Sugar Minott to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Nas. All the underground hits.
All Mo-Dettes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Tommy Roe,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
Joensuu 1685,
Scion,
Pulsallama,
Nico,
Camberwell Now,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Dave Clark Five,
R.M.O.,
Sex Pistols,
The Alarm Clocks,
Eddi Front,
Junior Murvin,
Isaac Hayes,
Dark Day,
Livin' Joy,
The Durutti Column,
The Velvet Underground,
Suicide,
Joey Negro,
Circle Jerks,
Amon Düül II,
B.T. Express,
Cecil Taylor,
Minnie Riperton,
Kerrie Biddell,
Black Flag,
10cc,
Skarface,
Scan 7,
Jacob Miller,
Ludus,
These Immortal Souls,
Carl Craig,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rapeman,
DNA,
Maleditus Sound,
Royal Trux,
AZ,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Schoolly D,
The Golliwogs,
Sight & Sound,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Mummies,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Drexciya,
Swell Maps,
Simply Red,
Fela Kuti,
The Smiths,
The Star Department,
The Evens,
La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf.
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.