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 Malawi and from Glasgow.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 harpsichord 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 Spoonie Gee to the disco 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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All The Black Dice tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
Outsiders,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Rod Modell,
The Human League,
Johnny Clarke,
Suburban Knight,
Robert Wyatt,
Minny Pops,
Magma,
Rufus Thomas,
Bang On A Can,
Guru Guru,
The Fuzztones,
The Seeds,
Desert Stars,
Unwound,
The Real Kids,
Peter and Kerry,
Q and Not U,
Bad Manners,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Association,
Boz Scaggs,
Lou Christie,
Absolute Body Control,
Procol Harum,
Essential Logic,
Brass Construction,
Arab on Radar,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sun Ra,
The Motions,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Young Rascals,
The Leaves,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
David Axelrod,
Motorama,
Nico,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Vogues,
Bobby Byrd,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Davy DMX,
Lou Reed,
Moby Grape,
Fear,
The Sound,
The United States of America,
Rosa Yemen,
Swans,
Yusef Lateef,
Deakin,
Barrington Levy,
Tim Buckley,
Infiniti,
Symarip,
ABBA,
Leonard Cohen,
Lucky Dragons,
Moebius, Moebius, Moebius, Moebius.
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.