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 Suriname and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Fat Boys to the grime 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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Underground Resistance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Pulsallama,
Tropical Tobacco,
Maurizio,
Whodini,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Idris Muhammad,
the Slits,
Quadrant,
Godley & Creme,
Erykah Badu,
The Raincoats,
Terrestrial Tones,
Arthur Verocai,
Donny Hathaway,
Rosa Yemen,
Skriet,
The Cowsills,
The Residents,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Spandau Ballet,
Hasil Adkins,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Neu!,
U.S. Maple,
Skarface,
Soul II Soul,
Matthew Bourne,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hardrive,
Pantytec,
Agitation Free,
Flamin' Groovies,
Cluster,
Soul Sonic Force,
Mars,
DNA,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bush Tetras,
The Birthday Party,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Joey Negro,
cv313,
Harmonia,
Ken Boothe,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Durutti Column,
Colin Newman,
The Monochrome Set,
Blake Baxter,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kurtis Blow,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Shadows of Knight,
Nik Kershaw,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fugazi,
In Retrospect,
Pharoah Sanders,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.