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 Swaziland and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum 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 Second Layer to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
Gregory Isaacs,
Boogie Down Productions,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rites of Spring,
Al Stewart,
Los Fastidios,
The Young Rascals,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Spandau Ballet,
Angry Samoans,
Rakim,
The Victims,
Gabor Szabo,
Brothers Johnson,
Yusef Lateef,
The Slackers,
Oblivians,
The Grass Roots,
The Flesh Eaters,
Kenny Larkin,
Visage,
David McCallum,
Grey Daturas,
Gong,
Panda Bear,
Jandek,
Hashim,
Underground Resistance,
Shuggie Otis,
Depeche Mode,
The Barracudas,
Junior Murvin,
Erykah Badu,
Public Enemy,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Audionom,
Jerry's Kids,
Q65,
La Düsseldorf,
Roxette,
Lucky Dragons,
Magma,
Mark Hollis,
Kurtis Blow,
Pylon,
Zapp,
Babytalk,
Charles Mingus,
China Crisis,
Maurizio,
Urselle,
June of 44,
The Doors,
The Sonics,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Joe Smooth,
The Fugs,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Smoke,
The Zeros,
Deepchord,
Masters at Work,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.