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 Sierra Leone and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Television to the grime 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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Junior Murvin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vainqueur,
The Flesh Eaters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Little Man,
Fear,
The Barracudas,
JFA,
Sister Nancy,
The Mummies,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bootsy Collins,
The Smoke,
Cymande,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Stiv Bators,
CMW,
Josef K,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Dirtbombs,
Average White Band,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Silicon Teens,
Drive Like Jehu,
Brass Construction,
the Normal,
Pole,
Deakin,
Cal Tjader,
Q65,
Main Source,
D'Angelo,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pet Shop Boys,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gabor Szabo,
Tomorrow,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
T.S.O.L.,
Funkadelic,
Simply Red,
Reagan Youth,
Throbbing Gristle,
New York Dolls,
The Selecter,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bill Near,
Sparks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
In Retrospect,
Howard Jones,
Arcadia,
Kenny Larkin,
DJ Style,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Althea and Donna,
The Slits,
Slick Rick,
Q and Not U,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.