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 Pakistan and from Copenhagen.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 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 The Mummies to the punk 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Iggy Pop record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
The Golliwogs,
Maleditus Sound,
Magazine,
Can,
The Birthday Party,
Japan,
Fear,
The Fuzztones,
Underground Resistance,
The Human League,
Derrick Morgan,
Andrew Hill,
The Fall,
Josef K,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Beau Brummels,
Freddie Wadling,
Sam Rivers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Dawn Penn,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Gap Band,
Reagan Youth,
Fela Kuti,
FM Einheit,
Alison Limerick,
Heaven 17,
Electric Prunes,
Leonard Cohen,
Guru Guru,
Jerry's Kids,
EPMD,
Lower 48,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Associates,
Unrelated Segments,
Das Ding,
Chris & Cosey,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Scratch Acid,
Bill Near,
Flipper,
Cybotron,
Gang Green,
Visage,
Crime,
Jacques Brel,
June Days,
Ludus,
Man Parrish,
Dark Day,
The Electric Prunes,
Funkadelic,
Fat Boys,
MC5,
Agent Orange,
Aural Exciters,
Harmonia,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Crooked Eye,
One Last Wish,
Judy Mowatt,
Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro.
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.