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 Slovenia and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Scientists to the punk 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Nirvana,
The Five Americans,
Radiohead,
Glenn Branca,
Joy Division,
MDC,
Sam Rivers,
Ten City,
Camberwell Now,
U.S. Maple,
Nils Olav,
Carl Craig,
Derrick Morgan,
Crispian St. Peters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Tomorrow,
Section 25,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Babytalk,
Pharoah Sanders,
Spoonie Gee,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Monochrome Set,
Blancmange,
Cameo,
Ponytail,
The Electric Prunes,
Lalo Schifrin,
Godley & Creme,
Soul II Soul,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dawn Penn,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sun Ra,
The Modern Lovers,
Whodini,
Althea and Donna,
Soulsonic Force,
The Grass Roots,
Infiniti,
The Associates,
Black Pus,
The Monks,
Tropical Tobacco,
Erykah Badu,
Kerrie Biddell,
Stetsasonic,
the Swans,
Interpol,
Soul Sonic Force,
Prince Buster,
Lungfish,
Flamin' Groovies,
Roxy Music,
The Shadows of Knight,
Thompson Twins,
Wire,
Sexual Harrassment,
Jeff Lynne,
Fluxion,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.