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 Jamaica and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 mellotron 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 Matthew Halsall 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 Excepter. All the underground hits.
All Hasil Adkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Groovy Waters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Holt,
The Seeds,
Bobby Hutcherson,
48th St. Collective,
Letta Mbulu,
Index,
Oneida,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Byron Stingily,
Flipper,
Subhumans,
Mad Mike,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Offenders,
The Divine Comedy,
The Techniques,
Nick Fraelich,
The Wake,
Dark Day,
The Walker Brothers,
Whodini,
The Gap Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Magma,
The Black Dice,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Vladislav Delay,
The Martian,
Lakeside,
Absolute Body Control,
KRS-One,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Wolf Eyes,
Scientists,
Half Japanese,
Kurtis Blow,
Nirvana,
Adolescents,
Todd Terry,
Stiv Bators,
MDC,
Technova,
Camberwell Now,
T. Rex,
Outsiders,
Rites of Spring,
New York Dolls,
Bill Wells,
Marcia Griffiths,
R.M.O.,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Zero Boys,
The Victims,
Gregory Isaacs,
Television Personalities,
Arthur Verocai,
Gichy Dan,
Gang Green,
Al Stewart,
Electric Prunes,
The Moleskins,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.