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 Zambia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Jacob Miller to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faust,
Godley & Creme,
Gang of Four,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Human League,
The United States of America,
Trumans Water,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gong,
Sun Ra,
The Cure,
Simply Red,
Stiv Bators,
Reagan Youth,
Patti Smith,
Amon Düül,
Glenn Branca,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Scan 7,
The Gun Club,
The Wake,
Harpers Bizarre,
Severed Heads,
Kayak,
Sound Behaviour,
Monolake,
Ponytail,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
EPMD,
Quando Quango,
Jimmy McGriff,
Warren Ellis,
Dead Boys,
Warsaw,
Mr. Review,
The Velvet Underground,
The Moody Blues,
Soul II Soul,
Wolf Eyes,
Ornette Coleman,
Yusef Lateef,
the Sonics,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Roy Ayers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Fat Boys,
Khruangbin,
June Days,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Junior Murvin,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Porter Ricks,
Iggy Pop,
Black Sheep,
Idris Muhammad,
The Durutti Column,
The Barracudas,
John Lydon,
Slick Rick,
Minnie Riperton,
The Fugs,
Interpol, Interpol, Interpol, Interpol.
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.