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 Kiribati and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manila.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Trumans Water to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Jesper Dahlbäck. All the underground hits.
All The Detroit Cobras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerrie Biddell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Piero Umiliani,
Los Fastidios,
The Gories,
The Martian,
X-101,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Archie Shepp,
Marmalade,
Banda Bassotti,
Marine Girls,
The Motions,
Malaria!,
The Barracudas,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lindisfarne,
In Retrospect,
MDC,
Altered Images,
Oblivians,
Gang of Four,
Grey Daturas,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Monochrome Set,
Vainqueur,
Danielle Patucci,
Public Image Ltd.,
Masters at Work,
L. Decosne,
John Coltrane,
Schoolly D,
Jeru the Damaja,
Q and Not U,
Fugazi,
Royal Trux,
Mo-Dettes,
Country Teasers,
Junior Murvin,
Peter and Kerry,
The Divine Comedy,
Todd Rundgren,
ABC,
The Slackers,
Jeff Lynne,
Au Pairs,
Hashim,
Pierre Henry,
Faraquet,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bobby Womack,
The Modern Lovers,
Livin' Joy,
Boz Scaggs,
Sugar Minott,
Letta Mbulu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
This Heat,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme.
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.