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 Ghana and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Junior Murvin to the funk 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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Porter Ricks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barclay James Harvest,
The Index,
Erykah Badu,
Mr. Review,
AZ,
Rapeman,
Skriet,
Schoolly D,
Michelle Simonal,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Dual Sessions,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Suburban Knight,
Eve St. Jones,
Camouflage,
Simply Red,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Cecil Taylor,
Quando Quango,
Absolute Body Control,
JFA,
Essential Logic,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Move,
Glenn Branca,
The Walker Brothers,
Pole,
Nick Fraelich,
The Monochrome Set,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Morten Harket,
Stockholm Monsters,
Soul Sonic Force,
ABC,
Rotary Connection,
Fad Gadget,
Hot Snakes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gang Starr,
Surgeon,
Piero Umiliani,
Jeff Mills,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
David Axelrod,
Terry Callier,
The Golliwogs,
10cc,
Scrapy,
Bronski Beat,
Joe Finger,
H. Thieme,
The Vogues,
Glambeats Corp.,
Quantec,
The Fire Engines,
Minor Threat,
Rufus Thomas,
Flamin' Groovies,
Icehouse,
Kurtis Blow,
Mission of Burma,
Kerri Chandler,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.