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 the UAE and from Manila.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Sex Pistols,
The Standells,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gregory Isaacs,
Tubeway Army,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Thompson Twins,
Chris Corsano,
Essential Logic,
The Zeros,
Charles Mingus,
Rosa Yemen,
The Human League,
Clear Light,
Oneida,
Wasted Youth,
Slave,
The Last Poets,
Faraquet,
Cameo,
Ice-T,
Johnny Clarke,
Yazoo,
Zapp,
Livin' Joy,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Junior Murvin,
Kas Product,
China Crisis,
Crispy Ambulance,
June of 44,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Real Kids,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Sparks,
Aaron Thompson,
EPMD,
Howard Jones,
Symarip,
Jeff Lynne,
Marc Almond,
Nas,
Gang Starr,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pole,
Ronnie Foster,
Mandrill,
A Certain Ratio,
Anakelly,
Agent Orange,
X-102,
Scrapy,
The Knickerbockers,
Public Image Ltd.,
Quando Quango,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Tim Buckley,
Eric B and Rakim,
Khruangbin,
LL Cool J,
Erasure,
Crispian St. Peters,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.