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 Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 spring reverb 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 Gil Scott Heron to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Tropical Tobacco tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Frankie Knuckles record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
MC5,
The Selecter,
Gang Green,
Sam Rivers,
Royal Trux,
Dawn Penn,
Goldenarms,
Lakeside,
Sight & Sound,
Mr. Review,
Brand Nubian,
Judy Mowatt,
Skriet,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
China Crisis,
The Knickerbockers,
Danielle Patucci,
Stereo Dub,
Los Fastidios,
Ludus,
Chrome,
Tommy Roe,
Soft Machine,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
48th St. Collective,
The Stooges,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Associates,
Ultravox,
The Searchers,
Vladislav Delay,
Anakelly,
Gong,
Sonic Youth,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The United States of America,
Stockholm Monsters,
Excepter,
La Düsseldorf,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Newcleus,
The Young Rascals,
The Wake,
Unrelated Segments,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Blake Baxter,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Quando Quango,
Icehouse,
The Blackbyrds,
Bronski Beat,
T.S.O.L.,
Nico,
Nick Fraelich,
Rites of Spring,
Sexual Harrassment,
Public Image Ltd.,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Marvin Gaye,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.