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 Nepal 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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Crooked Eye to the disco 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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zapp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hasil Adkins,
Icehouse,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Monks,
Public Image Ltd.,
June of 44,
Swans,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Byron Stingily,
Bill Near,
The Skatalites,
Connie Case,
Deadbeat,
Whodini,
John Cale,
DJ Style,
Davy DMX,
Roxy Music,
the Fania All-Stars,
New York Dolls,
Delta 5,
LL Cool J,
Easy Going,
The Fortunes,
Porter Ricks,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Cowsills,
The Residents,
Spoonie Gee,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The New Christs,
Glenn Branca,
Dorothy Ashby,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lebanon Hanover,
Monks,
John Lydon,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mission of Burma,
Magazine,
Godley & Creme,
Black Sheep,
Altered Images,
Dawn Penn,
Vainqueur,
Kurtis Blow,
The Fire Engines,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Brothers Johnson,
Ultra Naté,
Pylon,
E-Dancer,
The Fuzztones,
a-ha,
Aaron Thompson,
Country Teasers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Freddie Wadling,
Mandrill,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Mummies,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.