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 Congo and from Jakarta.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 B.T. Express to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
Ronnie Foster,
Deadbeat,
Fugazi,
Nirvana,
Yusef Lateef,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gap Band,
Donald Byrd,
Brick,
MDC,
Nils Olav,
Minutemen,
Interpol,
Desert Stars,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lou Reed,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Tim Buckley,
Aaron Thompson,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Theoretical Girls,
Agitation Free,
Minny Pops,
Babytalk,
Schoolly D,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Dirtbombs,
One Last Wish,
Television Personalities,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Residents,
Matthew Halsall,
Michelle Simonal,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nation of Ulysses,
Section 25,
Lou Christie,
John Holt,
Cal Tjader,
The Buckinghams,
The Black Dice,
The Pretty Things,
Leonard Cohen,
X-101,
Henry Cow,
Audionom,
Procol Harum,
The Slits,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Flipper,
Laurel Aitken,
The Trojans,
Sister Nancy,
The Associates,
KRS-One,
The Star Department,
The Pop Group,
The Divine Comedy,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.