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 Indonesia and from Hong Kong.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro 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 Isaac Hayes to the crunk 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 CMW. All the underground hits.
All Young Marble Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David McCallum 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suicide,
The Techniques,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Freddie Wadling,
Sparks,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Associates,
F. McDonald,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kas Product,
Banda Bassotti,
The Real Kids,
Lee Hazlewood,
Graham Central Station,
Shuggie Otis,
Skriet,
Intrusion,
48th St. Collective,
Tom Boy,
Scratch Acid,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bluetip,
The United States of America,
The Index,
Fat Boys,
Max Romeo,
ABC,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Sound,
The Invisible,
the Slits,
Gregory Isaacs,
Joensuu 1685,
The Leaves,
Clear Light,
The Skatalites,
Don Cherry,
Minnie Riperton,
Camouflage,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Smoke,
The Stooges,
Qualms,
Harpers Bizarre,
David Bowie,
Lungfish,
The Trojans,
Throbbing Gristle,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pharoah Sanders,
World's Most,
The Cure,
The Buckinghams,
Pantaleimon,
Warren Ellis,
Silicon Teens,
Lyres,
the Germs,
The Sonics,
KRS-One,
Marc Almond,
X-102,
Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.
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.