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 Liechtenstein and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 güiro 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 Terry Callier to the jazz 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 Sonny Sharrock. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Michelle Simonal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Faraquet,
K-Klass,
Dennis Brown,
Ice-T,
Black Moon,
Aural Exciters,
A Flock of Seagulls,
the Slits,
Nas,
Bluetip,
The Fugs,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Stetsasonic,
Easy Going,
Malaria!,
Toni Rubio,
T. Rex,
Scientists,
Franke,
The Gories,
This Heat,
Soft Cell,
The Happenings,
Nik Kershaw,
Fela Kuti,
Jacob Miller,
Glambeats Corp.,
Laurel Aitken,
Eve St. Jones,
Qualms,
Cymande,
The Music Machine,
Scratch Acid,
Scott Walker,
Terrestrial Tones,
Panda Bear,
Aaron Thompson,
Ken Boothe,
The United States of America,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Janne Schatter,
Average White Band,
Althea and Donna,
Sister Nancy,
Lakeside,
Barbara Tucker,
Severed Heads,
Camberwell Now,
Reuben Wilson,
The Durutti Column,
L. Decosne,
Johnny Osbourne,
X-101,
Whodini,
Eddi Front,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Terry Callier,
Ituana,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.