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 Sweden and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 spring reverb 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 Barclay James Harvest to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Agent Orange record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aaron Thompson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Albert Ayler,
Tres Demented,
The Divine Comedy,
Lightning Bolt,
Crime,
the Swans,
Cymande,
Can,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wolf Eyes,
Neil Young,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Nirvana,
U.S. Maple,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Move,
Fear,
James White and The Blacks,
Sun City Girls,
Donny Hathaway,
Zero Boys,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Amazonics,
Technova,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bluetip,
Jerry's Kids,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Bobby Sherman,
Mars,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
John Lydon,
Barry Ungar,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Tears for Fears,
the Normal,
Hardrive,
John Coltrane,
Todd Terry,
New York Dolls,
Leonard Cohen,
Black Flag,
The Mojo Men,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Reagan Youth,
Absolute Body Control,
Eli Mardock,
EPMD,
Erykah Badu,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Patti Smith,
Max Romeo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Moleskins,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.