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 Sri Lanka and from Philadelphia.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 oboe 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 Scott Walker to the grunge 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 Unwound. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mojo Men record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q65,
ABC,
48th St. Collective,
ABBA,
Connie Case,
Ultravox,
Max Romeo,
the Swans,
The Sound,
Cameo,
The Doors,
Hoover,
PIL,
Arcadia,
Ice-T,
Popol Vuh,
Duran Duran,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gregory Isaacs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Mad Mike,
Joensuu 1685,
Fear,
Judy Mowatt,
Ronan,
Can,
Thompson Twins,
The Neon Judgement,
Alison Limerick,
Pylon,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Flipper,
Kenny Larkin,
The Last Poets,
Chris Corsano,
Chris & Cosey,
Bauhaus,
Index,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Marine Girls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Moody Blues,
Alton Ellis,
Barry Ungar,
Soul II Soul,
Sun City Girls,
a-ha,
Gichy Dan,
Average White Band,
Reagan Youth,
Kaleidoscope,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobby Womack,
Zapp,
The Tremeloes,
Marvin Gaye,
The Fugs,
Bill Wells,
Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective.
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.