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 Oman and from Winnipeg.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the theremin 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 Aaron Thompson to the disco 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 Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All Cybotron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
The Kinks,
Bobby Sherman,
Soft Cell,
Simply Red,
The Walker Brothers,
Country Joe & The Fish,
8 Eyed Spy,
Minny Pops,
The Litter,
Jandek,
Ultravox,
This Heat,
In Retrospect,
UT,
Arab on Radar,
Junior Murvin,
Joey Negro,
Babytalk,
Brand Nubian,
Sound Behaviour,
R.M.O.,
Dennis Brown,
Little Man,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Evens,
John Lydon,
Soul Sonic Force,
Marmalade,
Barry Ungar,
Chris Corsano,
Alison Limerick,
a-ha,
Charles Mingus,
The Knickerbockers,
Yellowson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Donny Hathaway,
The Durutti Column,
Kool Moe Dee,
Freddie Wadling,
Joe Finger,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Warsaw,
Hardrive,
Nas,
Minutemen,
Radio Birdman,
the Human League,
Young Marble Giants,
DNA,
Lungfish,
Bill Wells,
Barbara Tucker,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Masters at Work,
Gang of Four,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Throbbing Gristle,
Moby Grape,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sight & Sound,
The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds.
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.