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 Benin and from Philadelphia.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Technova to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moody Blues record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Cecil Taylor,
Loose Ends,
Moby Grape,
Urselle,
Aswad,
Marc Almond,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Pop Group,
Wire,
ABC,
Bobbi Humphrey,
T.S.O.L.,
Robert Wyatt,
Das Ding,
Monolake,
Excepter,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Idris Muhammad,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Smoke,
Bang On A Can,
Nation of Ulysses,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
a-ha,
Swans,
Bush Tetras,
Glambeats Corp.,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Make Up,
Kool Moe Dee,
Dawn Penn,
Bobby Sherman,
Lakeside,
B.T. Express,
Supertramp,
Slick Rick,
Pharoah Sanders,
Warsaw,
Howard Jones,
Gabor Szabo,
The Star Department,
Von Mondo,
Black Bananas,
Theoretical Girls,
New York Dolls,
Soft Machine,
Joy Division,
DJ Style,
Harry Pussy,
Mary Jane Girls,
Delon & Dalcan,
Junior Murvin,
Quando Quango,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bluetip,
The Tremeloes,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Durutti Column,
The Shadows of Knight,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.