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 Papua New Guinea and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bang On A Can to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Liliput. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Al Stewart record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Thompson Twins,
Drexciya,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Swans,
The Gories,
Mandrill,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Normal,
Pierre Henry,
Scratch Acid,
Adolescents,
Matthew Halsall,
Fela Kuti,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Roxette,
The Electric Prunes,
Kurtis Blow,
Hasil Adkins,
Pere Ubu,
Man Eating Sloth,
Black Pus,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Index,
Swans,
Von Mondo,
Nico,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Alice Coltrane,
Con Funk Shun,
Severed Heads,
Janne Schatter,
Marcia Griffiths,
Mr. Review,
Popol Vuh,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gang Gang Dance,
Unwound,
Spandau Ballet,
Fat Boys,
Ponytail,
Fatback Band,
Wasted Youth,
U.S. Maple,
Kas Product,
Soul Sonic Force,
The American Breed,
The Black Dice,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Gun Club,
Mad Mike,
Audionom,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Junior Murvin,
Amon Düül II,
Dead Boys,
Gichy Dan,
Derrick May,
The Count Five,
Black Flag,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.