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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 sitar 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 Alphaville to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Fall. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rites of Spring record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Albert Ayler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gang Starr,
New Age Steppers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Brothers Johnson,
Minor Threat,
Camouflage,
Brand Nubian,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The American Breed,
Joyce Sims,
Bobby Byrd,
Eric Copeland,
10cc,
Groovy Waters,
The Moleskins,
The Cowsills,
Adolescents,
Kerri Chandler,
Steve Hackett,
CMW,
The Neon Judgement,
Todd Terry,
Mark Hollis,
Suicide,
Derrick Morgan,
The Remains,
Erasure,
June Days,
Malaria!,
The Barracudas,
Davy DMX,
Gabor Szabo,
The Vogues,
Tears for Fears,
The Walker Brothers,
Cheater Slicks,
The Slits,
The Smiths,
The Kinks,
Banda Bassotti,
Average White Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Visage,
Echospace,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jeff Lynne,
Rakim,
The Gories,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ponytail,
Procol Harum,
Sonic Youth,
Tom Boy,
The Seeds,
Chrome,
48th St. Collective,
Joy Division,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.