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 Kuwait and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 snare 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 Au Pairs to the grunge 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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a a-ha record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Blues Magoos,
Godley & Creme,
Pylon,
Subhumans,
Roger Hodgson,
Moss Icon,
Animal Collective,
June Days,
Black Moon,
Delon & Dalcan,
Prince Buster,
Qualms,
The Moody Blues,
Faust,
Bluetip,
Quadrant,
Patti Smith,
Anthony Braxton,
Aural Exciters,
Lindisfarne,
Heaven 17,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
X-Ray Spex,
Junior Murvin,
Yusef Lateef,
The Happenings,
The Smiths,
MDC,
Youth Brigade,
Carl Craig,
The Gap Band,
Scott Walker,
The Real Kids,
Minor Threat,
Alice Coltrane,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Eric Dolphy,
Sound Behaviour,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Index,
Kurtis Blow,
Gichy Dan,
Isaac Hayes,
Harpers Bizarre,
48th St. Collective,
Alton Ellis,
Thompson Twins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Metal Thangz,
Skriet,
The Martian,
U.S. Maple,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Skarface,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Monks,
Technova, Technova, Technova, Technova.
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.