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 Japan and from Houston.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 clarinet 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 June Days to the grime 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 The Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All Make Up tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June of 44 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick Morgan 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?
Kool Moe Dee,
The Offenders,
The Move,
Parry Music,
Glambeats Corp.,
Negative Approach,
Franke,
The Associates,
Hashim,
Crash Course in Science,
Eurythmics,
Index,
The Cowsills,
Lalo Schifrin,
ABBA,
Sparks,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Young Rascals,
Royal Trux,
Can,
Anthony Braxton,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pussy Galore,
the Normal,
Fela Kuti,
Cybotron,
Pantytec,
Neu!,
Freddie Wadling,
Blossom Toes,
Nils Olav,
The Invisible,
Gil Scott Heron,
Barry Ungar,
Moby Grape,
Ken Boothe,
The Real Kids,
Sixth Finger,
New York Dolls,
The Victims,
Bobby Womack,
Nick Fraelich,
the Soft Cell,
MC5,
Scan 7,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Archie Shepp,
Accadde A,
U.S. Maple,
The Index,
The Barracudas,
Crooked Eye,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Avey Tare,
Joey Negro,
Robert Wyatt,
John Lydon,
Pere Ubu,
Boogie Down Productions,
Cal Tjader,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.