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 Netherlands and from Cairo.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 linndrum 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 Scratch Acid to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Tears for Fears. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Five Americans,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Mad Mike,
Marshall Jefferson,
Deepchord,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Marmalade,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cheater Slicks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Patti Smith,
Model 500,
Johnny Clarke,
Boredoms,
Rod Modell,
Whodini,
Donald Byrd,
Blossom Toes,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Radiopuhelimet,
CMW,
Can,
La Düsseldorf,
Warsaw,
Sex Pistols,
Man Eating Sloth,
Agent Orange,
Gabor Szabo,
Delta 5,
Banda Bassotti,
Von Mondo,
Moby Grape,
Sarah Menescal,
The Doors,
Warren Ellis,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Frankie Knuckles,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Trojans,
The Electric Prunes,
Basic Channel,
Tomorrow,
Half Japanese,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Kenny Larkin,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Japan,
Duran Duran,
The Fuzztones,
The Neon Judgement,
Procol Harum,
Magazine,
Alton Ellis,
Sixth Finger,
The Wake,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Zapp,
This Heat,
The Skatalites,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.