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 Tonga and from Sao Paulo.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Taipei.
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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Procol Harum to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Fort Wilson Riot tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Spandau Ballet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
Malaria!,
Essential Logic,
The Index,
Erasure,
Hoover,
Sonic Youth,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gong,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Mummies,
Theoretical Girls,
Swans,
Depeche Mode,
Sarah Menescal,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Q and Not U,
Nils Olav,
Boogie Down Productions,
Danielle Patucci,
Trumans Water,
Reagan Youth,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Con Funk Shun,
Lungfish,
Bad Manners,
Lou Reed,
Second Layer,
Mad Mike,
Tom Boy,
Marine Girls,
Vainqueur,
Cheater Slicks,
Flamin' Groovies,
Ossler,
The Selecter,
The Blackbyrds,
Lalo Schifrin,
Tubeway Army,
The Moleskins,
Kayak,
The Pretty Things,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sparks,
Iggy Pop,
Agent Orange,
Echospace,
The New Christs,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Camouflage,
The American Breed,
Sex Pistols,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Fat Boys,
China Crisis,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Andrew Hill,
Qualms,
Sun Ra,
Duran Duran,
Jeru the Damaja,
Glambeats Corp.,
Swell Maps,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.