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 Palau and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 snare 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 Black Sheep to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sad Lovers and Giants. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Skriet,
Parry Music,
The Cramps,
Joe Smooth,
Alison Limerick,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Lou Christie,
Slave,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Absolute Body Control,
Matthew Halsall,
Donny Hathaway,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kerri Chandler,
Bill Wells,
Soul II Soul,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Babytalk,
Jimmy McGriff,
Blossom Toes,
Sonic Youth,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scratch Acid,
Liliput,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Glambeats Corp.,
Animal Collective,
Khruangbin,
R.M.O.,
Intrusion,
Pulsallama,
AZ,
Negative Approach,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Buzzcocks,
Aaron Thompson,
Crooked Eye,
Cluster,
Fat Boys,
Angry Samoans,
Tim Buckley,
Gerry Rafferty,
Magazine,
Royal Trux,
Mr. Review,
Anthony Braxton,
Kayak,
Niagra,
Crispian St. Peters,
Malaria!,
Pierre Henry,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Sonics,
John Holt,
The Leaves,
Al Stewart,
Dual Sessions,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The New Christs,
Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
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.