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 Namibia and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manila.
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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 B.T. Express to the funk 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 The Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Masters at Work tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Lydon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Angels of Light,
the Soft Cell,
New York Dolls,
Carl Craig,
Alton Ellis,
Yusef Lateef,
Excepter,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Cluster,
Bizarre Inc.,
Todd Rundgren,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Basic Channel,
Soft Cell,
Bobby Byrd,
Negative Approach,
Fela Kuti,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Victims,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dave Gahan,
Flash Fearless,
The Young Rascals,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bob Dylan,
Mad Mike,
The Cramps,
Susan Cadogan,
David Axelrod,
Moss Icon,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Lightning Bolt,
Pierre Henry,
The Busters,
Funky Four + One,
The Velvet Underground,
Youth Brigade,
Television,
Al Stewart,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Knickerbockers,
The Cowsills,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Blues Magoos,
Jeff Mills,
Absolute Body Control,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Symarip,
One Last Wish,
Rod Modell,
ABBA,
Dorothy Ashby,
R.M.O.,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Peter & Gordon,
Clear Light,
Swell Maps,
Country Teasers,
New Order,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Schoolly D,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.