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 Suriname and from Johannesburg.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Salvador.
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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 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 Aaron Thompson 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 The Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Freddie Wadling record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Teasers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Neon Judgement,
The Music Machine,
The Selecter,
Metal Thangz,
Charles Mingus,
Gang of Four,
Faraquet,
The Raincoats,
Neil Young,
Crooked Eye,
The Associates,
Godley & Creme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Unwound,
Arcadia,
Avey Tare,
a-ha,
B.T. Express,
The Names,
Popol Vuh,
Derrick Morgan,
The Cramps,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
the Fania All-Stars,
Man Parrish,
T.S.O.L.,
ABC,
Liliput,
Glenn Branca,
Gerry Rafferty,
Morten Harket,
Gabor Szabo,
The Residents,
The Black Dice,
Rakim,
Soft Machine,
Y Pants,
Oneida,
Eden Ahbez,
The Moleskins,
Black Pus,
Crime,
David Bowie,
Pharoah Sanders,
Curtis Mayfield,
Joensuu 1685,
Wings,
Harmonia,
The Invisible,
Pussy Galore,
Joey Negro,
Fluxion,
Judy Mowatt,
Cheater Slicks,
Dead Boys,
Todd Terry,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Fat Boys,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.