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 Thailand and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aural Exciters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Al Stewart,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Joy Division,
Cal Tjader,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alton Ellis,
Wasted Youth,
Wolf Eyes,
ABBA,
The Zeros,
Harmonia,
Eric Copeland,
T.S.O.L.,
Jacques Brel,
Slick Rick,
Vladislav Delay,
The Slits,
The Young Rascals,
Blake Baxter,
Spoonie Gee,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Cecil Taylor,
World's Most,
Smog,
The Durutti Column,
Barry Ungar,
Tim Buckley,
L. Decosne,
Fear,
Scrapy,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Archie Shepp,
Bobby Hutcherson,
John Holt,
The Fugs,
New Age Steppers,
Laurel Aitken,
Marmalade,
The Busters,
Black Flag,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Aaron Thompson,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Livin' Joy,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bill Wells,
Mad Mike,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gang Starr,
Soft Cell,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Görl,
Marc Almond,
The Smiths,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Cowsills,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mission of Burma,
Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover.
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.