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 Gabon and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 The Alarm Clocks to the grunge 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 Cowsills. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Real Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angry Samoans,
Charles Mingus,
Can,
China Crisis,
John Holt,
Reagan Youth,
The Blues Magoos,
Harry Pussy,
Marc Almond,
Scrapy,
Brothers Johnson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Evens,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ultimate Spinach,
Warsaw,
Youth Brigade,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ronnie Foster,
Wire,
Slick Rick,
Eurythmics,
Bobby Womack,
The Durutti Column,
Eric B and Rakim,
Arcadia,
Y Pants,
Desert Stars,
One Last Wish,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Simply Red,
Terry Callier,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Althea and Donna,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Zeros,
Avey Tare,
Blossom Toes,
Urselle,
ABBA,
the Normal,
Public Enemy,
Leonard Cohen,
Peter and Kerry,
Dark Day,
DJ Sneak,
Curtis Mayfield,
Piero Umiliani,
The Cramps,
Porter Ricks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Gap Band,
Letta Mbulu,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Scientists,
Minutemen,
Rekid,
Barrington Levy,
Outsiders,
The Index,
Roy Ayers,
Qualms,
The Human League, The Human League, The Human League, The Human League.
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.