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 Dominica 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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the guitar 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 Q65 to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Joy Division. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stiv Bators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agitation Free,
Kerri Chandler,
Lyres,
Sister Nancy,
The Young Rascals,
Cecil Taylor,
KRS-One,
Susan Cadogan,
The Star Department,
Simply Red,
Slick Rick,
Lou Reed,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Sonics,
DNA,
New Age Steppers,
John Holt,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Freddie Wadling,
La Düsseldorf,
The Divine Comedy,
Royal Trux,
Desert Stars,
Smog,
Q and Not U,
Depeche Mode,
World's Most,
Scott Walker,
Albert Ayler,
Harry Pussy,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jacob Miller,
Black Moon,
The Dirtbombs,
The Shadows of Knight,
48th St. Collective,
The Names,
Barrington Levy,
Yaz,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Mummies,
DJ Style,
Gabor Szabo,
Main Source,
Ornette Coleman,
Fatback Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lucky Dragons,
Fad Gadget,
Robert Görl,
Procol Harum,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Harpers Bizarre,
Matthew Halsall,
Junior Murvin,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Pole,
The Modern Lovers,
Sugar Minott,
Public Image Ltd.,
CMW,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.