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 Nicaragua and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 sitar 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 Susan Cadogan 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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Don Cherry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
Pylon,
Marmalade,
Ossler,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Matthew Halsall,
the Normal,
Lakeside,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Misunderstood,
Nas,
Unrelated Segments,
Soft Machine,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ohio Players,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gastr Del Sol,
Skarface,
A Flock of Seagulls,
MDC,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Dual Sessions,
Sound Behaviour,
Inner City,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Blackbyrds,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Zeros,
Kas Product,
the Fania All-Stars,
Laurel Aitken,
Grauzone,
Wolf Eyes,
Silicon Teens,
the Sonics,
Cal Tjader,
Wire,
Mo-Dettes,
Maurizio,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pulsallama,
Idris Muhammad,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Johnny Clarke,
Peter and Kerry,
The Pop Group,
Unwound,
Rakim,
Thee Headcoats,
Gabor Szabo,
Gang Starr,
John Holt,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Leaves,
Albert Ayler,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Cabaret Voltaire,
In Retrospect,
Scrapy,
Beasts of Bourbon,
B.T. Express,
Urselle,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.