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 Tuvalu and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Winnipeg.
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 snare 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 Jeff Lynne to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Sun Ra,
New Age Steppers,
Infiniti,
Technova,
Byron Stingily,
Funkadelic,
The New Christs,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lalann,
Groovy Waters,
Little Man,
Flipper,
The Busters,
LL Cool J,
The Real Kids,
Symarip,
Fela Kuti,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Young Rascals,
Visage,
Joe Finger,
Essential Logic,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Scrapy,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Agent Orange,
China Crisis,
Bobby Byrd,
Desert Stars,
Skriet,
Q65,
Brick,
The Monks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scan 7,
John Foxx,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Human League,
Sun City Girls,
Rites of Spring,
Nico,
PIL,
The Grass Roots,
The Blackbyrds,
Ten City,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Spandau Ballet,
Joensuu 1685,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Electric Prunes,
Al Stewart,
Eli Mardock,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Smiths,
Mantronix,
The Associates,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pole,
Howard Jones,
Albert Ayler,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.