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 Nigeria and from Hong Kong.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Selector Dub Narcotic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eurythmics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Ultravox,
Y Pants,
Black Sheep,
H. Thieme,
Glenn Branca,
The Associates,
Mary Jane Girls,
Gang Green,
D'Angelo,
The Monochrome Set,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Minny Pops,
The Walker Brothers,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Freddie Wadling,
Newcleus,
Cybotron,
The Selecter,
Mars,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Skarface,
Pylon,
Soul II Soul,
Kerrie Biddell,
Skriet,
Eden Ahbez,
the Normal,
AZ,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Saccharine Trust,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eric B and Rakim,
Terry Callier,
Cecil Taylor,
Sex Pistols,
The Sonics,
Vainqueur,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Don Cherry,
The Move,
X-Ray Spex,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Yazoo,
Icehouse,
Oneida,
The Velvet Underground,
Man Eating Sloth,
Tim Buckley,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Barbara Tucker,
The Blues Magoos,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Nirvana,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jerry's Kids,
Television,
Glambeats Corp.,
a-ha,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson.
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.