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 Tunisia 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 oboe 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 Sam Rivers to the jazz 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 Remains. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mummies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Bobby Sherman,
The Pop Group,
Monks,
Saccharine Trust,
Nik Kershaw,
Minnie Riperton,
John Foxx,
The Evens,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Excepter,
The Searchers,
Chris & Cosey,
The Fuzztones,
X-102,
The Grass Roots,
Arab on Radar,
10cc,
Q65,
Sixth Finger,
Boredoms,
Roy Ayers,
Tres Demented,
Guru Guru,
The Trojans,
Reagan Youth,
The Selecter,
The Five Americans,
Black Sheep,
The Busters,
Y Pants,
The Smiths,
The Toasters,
James White and The Blacks,
Donny Hathaway,
Procol Harum,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Offenders,
Marshall Jefferson,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Alton Ellis,
The Velvet Underground,
Rakim,
Maleditus Sound,
The Smoke,
Gang of Four,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Brand Nubian,
Sun Ra,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
T. Rex,
Average White Band,
Fad Gadget,
This Heat,
Crash Course in Science,
Young Marble Giants,
Grauzone,
Sister Nancy,
Television,
Bad Manners,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.