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 Vanuatu and from Lille.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 OOIOO to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Reuben Wilson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Henry Cow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Buzzcocks,
Japan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
John Lydon,
The Gladiators,
Accadde A,
The Standells,
Cal Tjader,
Maleditus Sound,
Organ,
kango's stein massive,
Oblivians,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Scan 7,
Charles Mingus,
Black Moon,
Max Romeo,
The Happenings,
The Searchers,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Connie Case,
Rod Modell,
the Slits,
ABBA,
Jacques Brel,
Aural Exciters,
Television,
John Holt,
Qualms,
Fugazi,
Eric Dolphy,
Isaac Hayes,
David Bowie,
Toni Rubio,
Michelle Simonal,
Gang of Four,
Johnny Clarke,
Trumans Water,
Quando Quango,
Y Pants,
Depeche Mode,
Cameo,
Quadrant,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Babytalk,
Slick Rick,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Davy DMX,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Absolute Body Control,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eddi Front,
Idris Muhammad,
John Coltrane,
Blancmange,
Bauhaus,
The Dead C,
Desert Stars,
David McCallum,
Delta 5,
The Blackbyrds,
Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios, Los Fastidios.
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.