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 Andorra and from Jakarta.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pet Shop Boys to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Tropical Tobacco tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Adolescents record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Parry Music record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aswad,
The Selecter,
Pylon,
Judy Mowatt,
Roxette,
Radiohead,
Scan 7,
Black Sheep,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Radio Birdman,
Animal Collective,
The Names,
Pantytec,
Bobby Byrd,
Barrington Levy,
The Fugs,
Reagan Youth,
Camouflage,
Rosa Yemen,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Aural Exciters,
Althea and Donna,
The Angels of Light,
Intrusion,
Funkadelic,
Eve St. Jones,
Derrick Morgan,
Quantec,
John Holt,
Joensuu 1685,
In Retrospect,
Mary Jane Girls,
Black Pus,
Blake Baxter,
Crash Course in Science,
8 Eyed Spy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Index,
The Golliwogs,
The Doobie Brothers,
Black Bananas,
Yellowson,
Eddi Front,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Human League,
Avey Tare,
Stereo Dub,
Joe Smooth,
Arab on Radar,
Sugar Minott,
The Divine Comedy,
Chris Corsano,
Second Layer,
Donny Hathaway,
Gang Green,
Rotary Connection,
Alton Ellis,
Sonic Youth,
Letta Mbulu,
Fluxion,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.