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 Mauritius and from Stockholm.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 sitar 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 Bauhaus to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Jeru the Damaja tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers Ubiquity record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Bizarre Inc.,
Scion,
L. Decosne,
Curtis Mayfield,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ten City,
Nirvana,
H. Thieme,
Cameo,
Arcadia,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeru the Damaja,
Half Japanese,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
EPMD,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Leaves,
Pylon,
The Fire Engines,
Blossom Toes,
cv313,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Delon & Dalcan,
Pantytec,
Index,
the Swans,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Interpol,
Dorothy Ashby,
Marc Almond,
Severed Heads,
Ponytail,
Goldenarms,
Accadde A,
Todd Rundgren,
The Saints,
The Slackers,
Brand Nubian,
Grandmaster Flash,
Malaria!,
The United States of America,
Lakeside,
Maleditus Sound,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Man Eating Sloth,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Green,
Eric Dolphy,
Dave Gahan,
Gerry Rafferty,
Amon Düül,
Aswad,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Average White Band,
Howard Jones,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kaleidoscope,
The Victims,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.