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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Philadelphia.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Main Source to the funk 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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Loose Ends 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Subhumans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
New York Dolls,
Urselle,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Cheater Slicks,
Mr. Review,
Minor Threat,
Fat Boys,
Johnny Clarke,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Spandau Ballet,
The Modern Lovers,
Marvin Gaye,
Massinfluence,
June Days,
The Skatalites,
D'Angelo,
Ten City,
The Mojo Men,
Rekid,
The Blues Magoos,
Radio Birdman,
OOIOO,
Ken Boothe,
Bad Manners,
Public Image Ltd.,
Yellowson,
Silicon Teens,
Groovy Waters,
Idris Muhammad,
Shoche,
Babytalk,
Roxy Music,
Darondo,
Kayak,
Oneida,
The Grass Roots,
Depeche Mode,
Grauzone,
Colin Newman,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Drexciya,
New Age Steppers,
ABC,
Motorama,
Vladislav Delay,
Public Enemy,
Stiv Bators,
Scion,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tubeway Army,
Kenny Larkin,
Man Eating Sloth,
Swell Maps,
Underground Resistance,
Faust,
cv313,
Magma,
Infiniti,
Laurel Aitken,
Sister Nancy,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.