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 Guyana and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 synthesizer 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 Tubeway Army to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Ultra Naté. All the underground hits.
All Louis and Bebe Barron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faraquet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Moss Icon,
Pharoah Sanders,
the Association,
Junior Murvin,
Rites of Spring,
The Motions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Carl Craig,
Soft Machine,
The Cramps,
Mandrill,
Archie Shepp,
The Dave Clark Five,
Ultra Naté,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Peter & Gordon,
Donald Byrd,
Zapp,
Saccharine Trust,
Inner City,
Mo-Dettes,
Godley & Creme,
Todd Rundgren,
The Divine Comedy,
Davy DMX,
Nick Fraelich,
Idris Muhammad,
The J.B.'s,
B.T. Express,
Mad Mike,
Desert Stars,
Rekid,
The Busters,
Eric Dolphy,
Funky Four + One,
Hoover,
Alice Coltrane,
Eric Copeland,
Cybotron,
F. McDonald,
Con Funk Shun,
Gabor Szabo,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sight & Sound,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Thee Headcoats,
David Axelrod,
The Names,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Grauzone,
Nils Olav,
Ornette Coleman,
Severed Heads,
Kevin Saunderson,
Ten City,
Masters at Work,
Derrick May,
James White and The Blacks,
Clear Light,
Pet Shop Boys,
Minutemen,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.