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 Bahamas and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 organ 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 Lightning Bolt to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam. All the underground hits.
All Aural Exciters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Derrick May,
The United States of America,
Drive Like Jehu,
Fat Boys,
Mad Mike,
Johnny Clarke,
Stetsasonic,
the Human League,
Inner City,
Pulsallama,
Desert Stars,
Donald Byrd,
Heaven 17,
Icehouse,
Spandau Ballet,
Josef K,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Flesh Eaters,
Arthur Verocai,
Youth Brigade,
Wasted Youth,
Flipper,
Whodini,
The Doobie Brothers,
Drexciya,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Janne Schatter,
June Days,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gang Green,
The Slackers,
Junior Murvin,
World's Most,
Byron Stingily,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Monochrome Set,
Ralphi Rosario,
Soul Sonic Force,
Black Bananas,
Laurel Aitken,
Depeche Mode,
Sunsets and Hearts,
K-Klass,
Livin' Joy,
The American Breed,
Sixth Finger,
Easy Going,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Japan,
Graham Central Station,
The Cramps,
Technova,
Dennis Brown,
China Crisis,
The Pop Group,
In Retrospect,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.