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 Ivory Coast and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 mellotron 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 Warsaw to the techno 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 LL Cool J. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lyres record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Spoonie Gee,
Bang On A Can,
T. Rex,
ABBA,
Grey Daturas,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Divine Comedy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Man Eating Sloth,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Moleskins,
Man Parrish,
Kerri Chandler,
Freddie Wadling,
The Fortunes,
Piero Umiliani,
The Pop Group,
Reuben Wilson,
K-Klass,
Cheater Slicks,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sun Ra,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Masters at Work,
Hasil Adkins,
Can,
Barrington Levy,
The Doors,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Bluetip,
DNA,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Deakin,
The Gories,
Ronan,
John Cale,
Eurythmics,
Albert Ayler,
Scan 7,
Suicide,
Accadde A,
Symarip,
Donny Hathaway,
Inner City,
Bobby Byrd,
David McCallum,
Wire,
The Slackers,
Nation of Ulysses,
Livin' Joy,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Grauzone,
The Names,
R.M.O.,
Alton Ellis,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Ken Boothe,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.