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 Guinea and from Lille.
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 Salvador and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fugazi to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 John Holt. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flamin' Groovies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deakin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boz Scaggs,
Arab on Radar,
Wolf Eyes,
Q and Not U,
Sex Pistols,
Reuben Wilson,
Shoche,
Rapeman,
Letta Mbulu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Marvin Gaye,
Connie Case,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Cybotron,
Sexual Harrassment,
Moebius,
The Wake,
Mission of Burma,
The Birthday Party,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Unrelated Segments,
The Monks,
Iggy Pop,
The Electric Prunes,
The Misunderstood,
Lakeside,
Radiohead,
10cc,
The New Christs,
Niagra,
Lalann,
Todd Rundgren,
Neu!,
Absolute Body Control,
Ronnie Foster,
Jerry's Kids,
The Gap Band,
Monolake,
the Association,
Drexciya,
Ludus,
Sällskapet,
Archie Shepp,
Stiv Bators,
Donny Hathaway,
These Immortal Souls,
Eric B and Rakim,
Surgeon,
Dark Day,
Oblivians,
Mary Jane Girls,
Tom Boy,
Babytalk,
Q65,
The Five Americans,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
David Bowie,
Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin.
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.