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 Sao Paulo.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 Half Japanese to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Zeros. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sound Behaviour record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June of 44 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
The Seeds,
Maurizio,
Drexciya,
Ronnie Foster,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eli Mardock,
Tomorrow,
Spoonie Gee,
cv313,
Scratch Acid,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Wally Richardson,
Gang Green,
K-Klass,
Todd Terry,
Oblivians,
Boz Scaggs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Index,
Mo-Dettes,
The Grass Roots,
Sly & The Family Stone,
David Axelrod,
Ludus,
The Saints,
the Bar-Kays,
The Pretty Things,
The Blackbyrds,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
John Holt,
June of 44,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Walker Brothers,
Bill Near,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sound Behaviour,
Section 25,
The Beau Brummels,
Black Sheep,
The Techniques,
The Searchers,
Terrestrial Tones,
Slave,
The Zeros,
Colin Newman,
The Trojans,
Gichy Dan,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bobby Sherman,
Zero Boys,
The Music Machine,
Peter and Kerry,
Q and Not U,
China Crisis,
Darondo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Marc Almond,
Average White Band,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.