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 Lithuania and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Sonic Youth to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All the Bar-Kays tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Altered Images 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lucky Dragons record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doobie Brothers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Hardrive,
Yusef Lateef,
Mark Hollis,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tears for Fears,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Robert Wyatt,
Subhumans,
Outsiders,
Groovy Waters,
Danielle Patucci,
Chris Corsano,
The Blackbyrds,
Underground Resistance,
Cecil Taylor,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
David McCallum,
L. Decosne,
Wally Richardson,
Minutemen,
Shoche,
Kurtis Blow,
The Standells,
Gang of Four,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cybotron,
Colin Newman,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Kerri Chandler,
Circle Jerks,
Lalann,
Crash Course in Science,
The Invisible,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Dirtbombs,
Supertramp,
Scratch Acid,
Delon & Dalcan,
Pylon,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Interpol,
the Slits,
Section 25,
Lou Reed,
Liliput,
Quantec,
The Moody Blues,
Donny Hathaway,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Associates,
Lalo Schifrin,
Slick Rick,
The Cramps,
Dorothy Ashby,
Michelle Simonal,
X-Ray Spex,
Unwound,
Matthew Bourne,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.