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 Armenia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the jazz 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Litter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pet Shop Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Isaac Hayes,
Sun City Girls,
Aswad,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Minny Pops,
The Golliwogs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Associates,
Stereo Dub,
Jerry's Kids,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lou Christie,
Talk Talk,
The Music Machine,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Vladislav Delay,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Scion,
Mary Jane Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Young Marble Giants,
Tears for Fears,
Smog,
The Modern Lovers,
The Raincoats,
Ohio Players,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Avey Tare,
Ultimate Spinach,
Liliput,
Radio Birdman,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Alice Coltrane,
Brothers Johnson,
Wasted Youth,
Marvin Gaye,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
a-ha,
Schoolly D,
Arcadia,
Eric Dolphy,
Sonny Sharrock,
The United States of America,
Spoonie Gee,
X-Ray Spex,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Alison Limerick,
The Monochrome Set,
Brass Construction,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sight & Sound,
Scan 7,
Sparks,
Fear,
The J.B.'s,
Anakelly,
Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones.
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.