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 Belize and from Manchester.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Andrew Hill to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All Television tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masters at Work,
Von Mondo,
JFA,
Eli Mardock,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gong,
The Seeds,
David Bowie,
Derrick Morgan,
The Fall,
The Detroit Cobras,
Television,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Das Ding,
Chrome,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Crispy Ambulance,
Fad Gadget,
Soul Sonic Force,
Goldenarms,
The Fire Engines,
Jesper Dahlback,
Dorothy Ashby,
Funky Four + One,
John Foxx,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Eden Ahbez,
Groovy Waters,
The American Breed,
Ronnie Foster,
Aswad,
Jacob Miller,
the Germs,
Crash Course in Science,
MDC,
The Fuzztones,
Reuben Wilson,
June of 44,
La Düsseldorf,
Cluster,
The Slackers,
The Misunderstood,
Rekid,
Lower 48,
Shuggie Otis,
Sonny Sharrock,
Make Up,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Anthony Braxton,
Crime,
Essential Logic,
Thompson Twins,
Saccharine Trust,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Althea and Donna,
China Crisis,
The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s.
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.