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 Mozambique and from Lagos.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro 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 Frankie Knuckles to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All Altered Images tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Age Steppers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
The Moleskins,
Lyres,
Dawn Penn,
Urselle,
Eric Copeland,
OOIOO,
R.M.O.,
T.S.O.L.,
Roy Ayers,
John Cale,
Josef K,
Tim Buckley,
Barclay James Harvest,
Alison Limerick,
Yellowson,
Tomorrow,
John Foxx,
Kerrie Biddell,
Livin' Joy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Bronski Beat,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Pantaleimon,
Suburban Knight,
The Golliwogs,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Move,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Janne Schatter,
Blancmange,
Unwound,
Kaleidoscope,
Erykah Badu,
The Seeds,
Skriet,
Arthur Verocai,
Spoonie Gee,
Loose Ends,
Nico,
Severed Heads,
Nils Olav,
Dark Day,
Deakin,
Gang Green,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Slits,
LL Cool J,
Arcadia,
Dual Sessions,
Minor Threat,
Vainqueur,
Second Layer,
Babytalk,
Black Sheep,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brass Construction,
The Names,
Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron.
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.