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 Mali and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Amazonics to the dance 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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Buzzcocks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glenn Branca record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Prince Buster,
OOIOO,
In Retrospect,
Black Sheep,
ABBA,
Althea and Donna,
Supertramp,
The Beau Brummels,
Lyres,
Frankie Knuckles,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Stereo Dub,
Altered Images,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Smiths,
Brass Construction,
Radiohead,
Eddi Front,
Matthew Bourne,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Divine Comedy,
Tubeway Army,
the Association,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Deakin,
The Pretty Things,
Pussy Galore,
The Gladiators,
DNA,
The Cure,
Mary Jane Girls,
Negative Approach,
The Zeros,
The Trojans,
Nils Olav,
The Modern Lovers,
Royal Trux,
Andrew Hill,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ossler,
The Last Poets,
The Barracudas,
Pole,
Main Source,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Niagra,
Shoche,
Nas,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Radio Birdman,
Cecil Taylor,
Traffic Nightmare,
Joy Division,
Erasure,
The Angels of Light,
the Fania All-Stars,
Average White Band,
Fela Kuti,
Henry Cow,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.