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 Yemen and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 Calgary and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Agitation Free to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions 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 '90s.
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 Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
Blake Baxter,
Swell Maps,
Lalann,
Jawbox,
Crooked Eye,
Spoonie Gee,
Eli Mardock,
Bang On A Can,
Reuben Wilson,
Robert Hood,
Silicon Teens,
The Searchers,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Holt,
The Gories,
Sonny Sharrock,
EPMD,
Pylon,
Gabor Szabo,
Darondo,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Blues Magoos,
Scientists,
Scion,
New York Dolls,
U.S. Maple,
Livin' Joy,
Danielle Patucci,
Pharoah Sanders,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Oneida,
The Velvet Underground,
PIL,
The Names,
Hashim,
Groovy Waters,
Suburban Knight,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Seeds,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Make Up,
Colin Newman,
Ice-T,
The Blackbyrds,
Lebanon Hanover,
Toni Rubio,
Tommy Roe,
The Detroit Cobras,
Al Stewart,
Lightning Bolt,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The United States of America,
Derrick May,
Monolake,
Con Funk Shun,
DJ Sneak,
E-Dancer,
Marvin Gaye,
The Red Krayola,
Smog,
Simply Red,
Yazoo,
Ituana, Ituana, Ituana, Ituana.
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.