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 Iraq and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 clarinet 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 Funky Four + One to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All The Royal Family And The Poor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television Personalities 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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?
Rufus Thomas,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sällskapet,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Rotary Connection,
The Gap Band,
T. Rex,
Heaven 17,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Peter & Gordon,
The Mummies,
Alton Ellis,
Joensuu 1685,
Thompson Twins,
The Electric Prunes,
Lungfish,
a-ha,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Shadows of Knight,
Marc Almond,
Idris Muhammad,
Soft Machine,
Girls At Our Best!,
Urselle,
Dorothy Ashby,
Rod Modell,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Amon Düül,
The Skatalites,
Brothers Johnson,
The American Breed,
Aaron Thompson,
Echospace,
Swell Maps,
The Barracudas,
Anakelly,
Nas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Warren Ellis,
Unwound,
kango's stein massive,
Talk Talk,
Jawbox,
Monks,
Flash Fearless,
Ornette Coleman,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
OOIOO,
the Sonics,
Deadbeat,
the Swans,
The Detroit Cobras,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Warsaw,
Whodini,
The Offenders,
China Crisis,
Mantronix,
Marmalade,
The Associates,
Mark Hollis,
Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside.
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.