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 Georgia and from Madrid.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Johannesburg.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Icehouse to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet 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?
Massinfluence,
Cal Tjader,
Unrelated Segments,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sparks,
Fad Gadget,
Johnny Clarke,
The J.B.'s,
Ralphi Rosario,
Eve St. Jones,
Arab on Radar,
Be Bop Deluxe,
X-102,
The Black Dice,
The Slits,
Anthony Braxton,
The Tremeloes,
Adolescents,
Fugazi,
Soft Cell,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
K-Klass,
Niagra,
Davy DMX,
David McCallum,
Severed Heads,
Brick,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Second Layer,
Joey Negro,
John Holt,
Kerri Chandler,
Kenny Larkin,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nation of Ulysses,
Absolute Body Control,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Drexciya,
Letta Mbulu,
Gil Scott Heron,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Neon Judgement,
Little Man,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Peter and Kerry,
Juan Atkins,
The Leaves,
Smog,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Agitation Free,
Scion,
Marmalade,
Brass Construction,
Ossler,
the Slits,
Amon Düül II,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip.
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.