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 Philippines and from Lagos.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Associates to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Alarm Clocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Ludus,
Lou Reed,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Neil Young,
Eve St. Jones,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Pussy Galore,
AZ,
Lyres,
Kenny Larkin,
Warren Ellis,
The Music Machine,
H. Thieme,
Das Ding,
Iggy Pop,
The Doobie Brothers,
Angry Samoans,
The Five Americans,
Zero Boys,
Rosa Yemen,
Porter Ricks,
D'Angelo,
EPMD,
Subhumans,
Crash Course in Science,
Flash Fearless,
Johnny Clarke,
Eddi Front,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Black Sheep,
Joensuu 1685,
Sarah Menescal,
Crispian St. Peters,
Tubeway Army,
UT,
Half Japanese,
June of 44,
Ornette Coleman,
Ralphi Rosario,
DNA,
Outsiders,
Isaac Hayes,
Eurythmics,
Suicide,
The Mojo Men,
Saccharine Trust,
Quantec,
The Alarm Clocks,
David Axelrod,
Public Image Ltd.,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Skatalites,
Black Pus,
Los Fastidios,
Eric Copeland,
Kerri Chandler,
Radiohead,
Susan Cadogan,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Pretty Things,
The Slackers,
Ultimate Spinach,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.