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 Antigua and from Mexico City.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 June Days to the punk 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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All Alison Limerick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Slave,
The Divine Comedy,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bobby Byrd,
The Human League,
Spoonie Gee,
Half Japanese,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Tres Demented,
Althea and Donna,
Model 500,
Shuggie Otis,
Popol Vuh,
Kevin Saunderson,
Visage,
Tom Boy,
Johnny Clarke,
Minutemen,
Reuben Wilson,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sound Behaviour,
The Cowsills,
Monks,
Maurizio,
Arab on Radar,
Eve St. Jones,
Scott Walker,
The Kinks,
Talk Talk,
Michelle Simonal,
Tim Buckley,
Cybotron,
The Shadows of Knight,
Hashim,
Drexciya,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
X-Ray Spex,
Schoolly D,
Minnie Riperton,
Black Flag,
Young Marble Giants,
Can,
The Last Poets,
Fatback Band,
Erykah Badu,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Cramps,
Yusef Lateef,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Negative Approach,
The Toasters,
Tomorrow,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Music Machine,
Vainqueur,
Ornette Coleman,
Faust,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.