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 Sri Lanka and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Tokyo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Piero Umiliani to the electroclash 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 Funkadelic. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacques Brel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Soul II Soul,
Sex Pistols,
The Last Poets,
DJ Sneak,
Lyres,
Neil Young,
Mad Mike,
Deadbeat,
Cheater Slicks,
Leonard Cohen,
Jeff Mills,
Oneida,
China Crisis,
Massinfluence,
Carl Craig,
Jeff Lynne,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Busters,
Cluster,
The Offenders,
Donny Hathaway,
The Monochrome Set,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bobby Byrd,
Joey Negro,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scientists,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Scrapy,
Rekid,
Altered Images,
The Gun Club,
Gang Gang Dance,
Joyce Sims,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Reuben Wilson,
The Standells,
Laurel Aitken,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Monks,
Young Marble Giants,
Moss Icon,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
8 Eyed Spy,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sarah Menescal,
Franke,
Delta 5,
Au Pairs,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Zeros,
Avey Tare,
Scion,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Durutti Column,
Echospace,
The Names,
The Angels of Light,
Vladislav Delay,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.