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 Norway and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 güiro 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 Arab on Radar to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Todd Terry. All the underground hits.
All Joe Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes 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 synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hot Snakes,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Zapp,
Model 500,
Television,
Nirvana,
Fugazi,
Kerri Chandler,
Howard Jones,
Second Layer,
Michelle Simonal,
The Trojans,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Gerry Rafferty,
Agitation Free,
Guru Guru,
A Certain Ratio,
Spoonie Gee,
Soulsonic Force,
Lucky Dragons,
Boogie Down Productions,
Supertramp,
Deadbeat,
Godley & Creme,
Crispy Ambulance,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Dawn Penn,
T.S.O.L.,
The Pretty Things,
Scott Walker,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Arthur Verocai,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Blake Baxter,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pere Ubu,
Chris & Cosey,
Al Stewart,
The Gap Band,
The Sound,
The Skatalites,
The Knickerbockers,
Von Mondo,
MC5,
K-Klass,
The Fugs,
Slick Rick,
JFA,
Accadde A,
The Cowsills,
Lower 48,
Banda Bassotti,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Josef K,
The Fall,
Flamin' Groovies,
Whodini,
Black Flag,
The Offenders,
Liliput,
Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux.
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.