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 Nepal and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bobby Byrd to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All Angels of Light & Akron/Family tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Y Pants 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
John Cale,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Grass Roots,
Saccharine Trust,
Freddie Wadling,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
E-Dancer,
Funkadelic,
Mars,
Zapp,
Robert Hood,
Graham Central Station,
Nas,
Grauzone,
Kerri Chandler,
Dennis Brown,
Harmonia,
The Doobie Brothers,
Peter & Gordon,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Camberwell Now,
Tubeway Army,
Ash Ra Tempel,
David McCallum,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Guru Guru,
Gong,
JFA,
The Fire Engines,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Toasters,
Matthew Halsall,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
La Düsseldorf,
Moby Grape,
Arcadia,
Johnny Clarke,
Leonard Cohen,
Barry Ungar,
Lightning Bolt,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Con Funk Shun,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Association,
Rufus Thomas,
Eden Ahbez,
Jacob Miller,
Buzzcocks,
Eric Dolphy,
Suicide,
The Index,
Urselle,
Parry Music,
Electric Prunes,
A Certain Ratio,
Erasure,
The Litter,
The Dirtbombs,
Ludus,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Associates, The Associates, The Associates, The Associates.
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.