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 Malta and from Toronto.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 arpeggiator 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 Morten Harket to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Lyres,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Danielle Patucci,
Jawbox,
The Beau Brummels,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Blancmange,
Black Bananas,
The Monks,
James White and The Blacks,
Drive Like Jehu,
the Fania All-Stars,
DJ Style,
Minor Threat,
Pagans,
The Durutti Column,
Suburban Knight,
Byron Stingily,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jacques Brel,
Toni Rubio,
Anakelly,
the Human League,
Tom Boy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Maleditus Sound,
Minnie Riperton,
FM Einheit,
The Busters,
The Detroit Cobras,
Marshall Jefferson,
Organ,
Motorama,
Rapeman,
Gastr Del Sol,
Amon Düül II,
PIL,
Desert Stars,
The Star Department,
Niagra,
Yusef Lateef,
Jeff Lynne,
Swell Maps,
Cheater Slicks,
Electric Prunes,
Bronski Beat,
The Misunderstood,
Bobby Womack,
Unwound,
Mark Hollis,
Johnny Clarke,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Television Personalities,
Ice-T,
Urselle,
Magazine,
Ituana,
K-Klass,
The Buckinghams,
Royal Trux,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.