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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Bologna.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Gregory Isaacs to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All The Black Dice tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Bar-Kays 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
UT,
Brick,
Nirvana,
Althea and Donna,
Au Pairs,
The Index,
Main Source,
La Düsseldorf,
Cluster,
The Wake,
Dave Gahan,
Fatback Band,
Moss Icon,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Litter,
Joy Division,
Ornette Coleman,
The Music Machine,
This Heat,
Chris & Cosey,
Soul II Soul,
Amon Düül,
Brothers Johnson,
Accadde A,
John Cale,
Groovy Waters,
LL Cool J,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Associates,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Second Layer,
Amazonics,
Joensuu 1685,
Kas Product,
Reuben Wilson,
Hoover,
Skarface,
Mad Mike,
Mantronix,
Jandek,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ultra Naté,
Circle Jerks,
Black Bananas,
Inner City,
Frankie Knuckles,
Marc Almond,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Blues Magoos,
The Dead C,
Letta Mbulu,
The Electric Prunes,
Donald Byrd,
Johnny Clarke,
The Gories,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Suburban Knight,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.