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 India and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Television Personalities to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All The Wake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every F. McDonald record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Jandek,
Toni Rubio,
Funky Four + One,
Pere Ubu,
Television Personalities,
In Retrospect,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Easy Going,
Theoretical Girls,
Carl Craig,
The Electric Prunes,
Drexciya,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Toasters,
Hasil Adkins,
Yaz,
Fela Kuti,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Second Layer,
Au Pairs,
Mars,
Mission of Burma,
Scott Walker,
Andrew Hill,
Henry Cow,
Negative Approach,
Marvin Gaye,
The Neon Judgement,
Audionom,
The Standells,
DNA,
Brass Construction,
Clear Light,
Chris & Cosey,
Japan,
T. Rex,
Babytalk,
David Axelrod,
Aural Exciters,
Crooked Eye,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Cale,
Gong,
The Golliwogs,
Suicide,
The Star Department,
Rotary Connection,
Aloha Tigers,
Masters at Work,
Crash Course in Science,
X-Ray Spex,
Vainqueur,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Harmonia,
Gang of Four,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Big Daddy Kane,
One Last Wish,
The Angels of Light,
Malaria!,
Nas,
Porter Ricks,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.