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 Malawi and from Lyon.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Columbus.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the marimba 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 Ralphi Rosario to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Human League record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Absolute Body Control record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lyres,
Swans,
the Fania All-Stars,
Severed Heads,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sound Behaviour,
The Blackbyrds,
The Selecter,
Jandek,
Cecil Taylor,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Fall,
Derrick Morgan,
Von Mondo,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Harmonia,
Bronski Beat,
Erykah Badu,
Essential Logic,
CMW,
Technova,
The Mummies,
Scan 7,
Mary Jane Girls,
Skaos,
Minny Pops,
Sex Pistols,
The Young Rascals,
The Seeds,
Stetsasonic,
The Tremeloes,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Real Kids,
Lou Reed,
Magazine,
Jeff Lynne,
Donald Byrd,
Robert Hood,
ABBA,
Public Image Ltd.,
Interpol,
Marine Girls,
Piero Umiliani,
Chrome,
Liliput,
Eve St. Jones,
Little Man,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Names,
David McCallum,
Roxette,
Cabaret Voltaire,
a-ha,
Joyce Sims,
Eurythmics,
Model 500,
Spandau Ballet,
Avey Tare,
Agent Orange,
Newcleus,
The Count Five,
The Move,
Circle Jerks,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.