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 Bhutan and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the disco 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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every FM Einheit record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 8 Eyed Spy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Gichy Dan,
June of 44,
Scott Walker,
Nick Fraelich,
Radio Birdman,
Bauhaus,
Deepchord,
48th St. Collective,
The Move,
The Fugs,
Connie Case,
Avey Tare,
The Selecter,
Man Eating Sloth,
Pere Ubu,
Average White Band,
The Electric Prunes,
Procol Harum,
Bobby Sherman,
Technova,
the Association,
Cybotron,
Danielle Patucci,
the Swans,
Hashim,
cv313,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Letta Mbulu,
The Mojo Men,
Funky Four + One,
Michelle Simonal,
Black Sheep,
Glenn Branca,
Slave,
Nils Olav,
Moss Icon,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Dorothy Ashby,
The Standells,
China Crisis,
Soul II Soul,
Joe Smooth,
Ponytail,
Duran Duran,
The Sound,
X-Ray Spex,
Maurizio,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Harpers Bizarre,
Oblivians,
Eric B and Rakim,
Soft Cell,
Arthur Verocai,
Bobby Womack,
Camberwell Now,
Bush Tetras,
Jeff Lynne,
Delta 5,
The United States of America,
FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit.
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.