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 Kiribati and from Bologna.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Joey Negro to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Spoonie Gee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Make Up,
Moss Icon,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Neon Judgement,
Altered Images,
Pole,
Letta Mbulu,
Cameo,
The Barracudas,
Shoche,
Robert Wyatt,
Nils Olav,
Animal Collective,
David Axelrod,
the Swans,
ABC,
Fela Kuti,
Mars,
Ten City,
Cal Tjader,
Joe Smooth,
Nas,
The Modern Lovers,
The Last Poets,
The Five Americans,
Jeff Lynne,
Junior Murvin,
Bluetip,
Model 500,
Rotary Connection,
Monolake,
Yellowson,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eddi Front,
Barbara Tucker,
Dave Gahan,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Hoover,
Pulsallama,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Surgeon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Michelle Simonal,
the Bar-Kays,
Pagans,
Funkadelic,
Youth Brigade,
Bobby Byrd,
Jerry's Kids,
Cymande,
The Mummies,
ABBA,
John Coltrane,
The Pretty Things,
Soft Cell,
The Invisible,
Ohio Players,
Severed Heads,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Move,
Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants.
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.