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 Guyana and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sonic Youth to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All Schoolly D tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
JFA,
Dennis Brown,
The Mojo Men,
The Birthday Party,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sight & Sound,
Schoolly D,
Fad Gadget,
Massinfluence,
Joe Smooth,
Camberwell Now,
The Cure,
The Fire Engines,
Tommy Roe,
Janne Schatter,
Andrew Hill,
Graham Central Station,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lindisfarne,
Grauzone,
These Immortal Souls,
Faraquet,
Sun Ra,
The Shadows of Knight,
Max Romeo,
Danielle Patucci,
The Music Machine,
The Skatalites,
Index,
Dead Boys,
the Human League,
Kevin Saunderson,
Reagan Youth,
Girls At Our Best!,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sixth Finger,
The Stooges,
Tropical Tobacco,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Excepter,
Davy DMX,
the Slits,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Pretty Things,
Skaos,
Laurel Aitken,
The Knickerbockers,
Altered Images,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Grass Roots,
David McCallum,
The United States of America,
Mandrill,
Alice Coltrane,
Qualms,
Japan,
Al Stewart,
Joyce Sims,
Lalo Schifrin,
Black Sheep,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.