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 Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and London.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Warsaw 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 Oneida. All the underground hits.
All The Birthday Party tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T. Rex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Alton Ellis,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sonic Youth,
Scott Walker,
T. Rex,
Mission of Burma,
Icehouse,
The Techniques,
Monolake,
Lyres,
Mark Hollis,
Blake Baxter,
Rosa Yemen,
The Cramps,
Aural Exciters,
Main Source,
Nick Fraelich,
MDC,
Sun City Girls,
Young Marble Giants,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Stereo Dub,
Bang On A Can,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Barclay James Harvest,
Moebius,
Massinfluence,
June Days,
The Saints,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
DJ Style,
Yusef Lateef,
Liliput,
Niagra,
Johnny Clarke,
Peter and Kerry,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Radiopuhelimet,
Terry Callier,
The Stooges,
Silicon Teens,
The Wake,
Byron Stingily,
Jawbox,
Duran Duran,
Ash Ra Tempel,
EPMD,
Prince Buster,
The Residents,
Lou Christie,
Depeche Mode,
the Human League,
The Seeds,
the Association,
Skaos,
Juan Atkins,
Albert Ayler,
Traffic Nightmare,
Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters.
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.