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-Bissau and from Lyon.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 theremin 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 Laurel Aitken to the funk 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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cameo 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Groovy Waters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 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?
Lyres,
John Coltrane,
The Dave Clark Five,
Yazoo,
Harpers Bizarre,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bauhaus,
Mantronix,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Grass Roots,
Alison Limerick,
Altered Images,
Tommy Roe,
Terry Callier,
The Searchers,
Absolute Body Control,
Amazonics,
La Düsseldorf,
Morten Harket,
E-Dancer,
A Certain Ratio,
Kayak,
Erykah Badu,
The Evens,
The Pretty Things,
Kenny Larkin,
Faust,
EPMD,
Marvin Gaye,
Flash Fearless,
Ultimate Spinach,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Crispian St. Peters,
In Retrospect,
Man Parrish,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Second Layer,
Bobby Byrd,
Ohio Players,
Gregory Isaacs,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bad Manners,
Aaron Thompson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sight & Sound,
Camouflage,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Con Funk Shun,
Talk Talk,
Jawbox,
The Buckinghams,
Whodini,
The Fall,
Eli Mardock,
Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag.
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.