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 East Timor and from Tokyo.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Selecter to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Brass Construction. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scratch Acid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Duran Duran record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Section 25,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Fire Engines,
Big Daddy Kane,
Nick Fraelich,
Gichy Dan,
Underground Resistance,
Fugazi,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Alarm Clocks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Khruangbin,
June Days,
Piero Umiliani,
Sam Rivers,
Colin Newman,
The Mojo Men,
Joensuu 1685,
CMW,
Q and Not U,
Moebius,
Hasil Adkins,
Lyres,
Ossler,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pulsallama,
Laurel Aitken,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Divine Comedy,
Reagan Youth,
Anakelly,
Ohio Players,
Bobby Womack,
Stiv Bators,
Bill Wells,
Ludus,
Todd Terry,
Joey Negro,
New York Dolls,
Donny Hathaway,
Henry Cow,
The Doors,
Aswad,
Organ,
The Grass Roots,
Black Flag,
Blossom Toes,
Sonic Youth,
Harpers Bizarre,
Donald Byrd,
the Association,
Josef K,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jawbox,
Black Pus,
The Golliwogs,
Tubeway Army,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers.
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.