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 Gambia and from Glasgow.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Martian to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All kango's stein massive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare 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?
Country Joe & The Fish,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Colin Newman,
Black Sheep,
Eve St. Jones,
The Move,
Erykah Badu,
The Dirtbombs,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
the Normal,
The Human League,
Laurel Aitken,
Gichy Dan,
Joensuu 1685,
Throbbing Gristle,
T.S.O.L.,
FM Einheit,
Jesper Dahlback,
DJ Style,
John Foxx,
Amon Düül II,
Ralphi Rosario,
Arab on Radar,
John Lydon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
EPMD,
The American Breed,
Black Bananas,
E-Dancer,
The Smiths,
The Red Krayola,
The Golliwogs,
ABC,
Can,
Schoolly D,
Whodini,
Marmalade,
Echospace,
Metal Thangz,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lower 48,
Matthew Halsall,
Bad Manners,
Altered Images,
U.S. Maple,
Marvin Gaye,
Saccharine Trust,
Rhythm & Sound,
Cybotron,
T. Rex,
Junior Murvin,
The Dead C,
The Doors,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Curtis Mayfield,
Outsiders,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Residents,
Oblivians,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Soft Cell,
Hot Snakes,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.