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 Cuba and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Cairo.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the grime 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
The Names,
Ken Boothe,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Scientists,
Don Cherry,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Public Image Ltd.,
Piero Umiliani,
Big Daddy Kane,
Camouflage,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Second Layer,
Minor Threat,
Amazonics,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Mo-Dettes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jimmy McGriff,
Oblivians,
Porter Ricks,
Brand Nubian,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Darondo,
E-Dancer,
Sarah Menescal,
Babytalk,
Girls At Our Best!,
Alison Limerick,
Arthur Verocai,
Johnny Clarke,
Erasure,
DJ Style,
The Buckinghams,
Rufus Thomas,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gang of Four,
Alphaville,
Sonic Youth,
Alton Ellis,
The Zeros,
T. Rex,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Main Source,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Scratch Acid,
Barrington Levy,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Angry Samoans,
Eyeless In Gaza,
X-102,
Jawbox,
The Neon Judgement,
Lee Hazlewood,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Toasters,
The Skatalites,
Tropical Tobacco,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.