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 Ivory Coast and from Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Toronto.
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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Television 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 Lou Christie. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lou Reed,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
48th St. Collective,
Crispian St. Peters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
MC5,
Young Marble Giants,
Dave Gahan,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
a-ha,
Laurel Aitken,
Ultra Naté,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sam Rivers,
Oneida,
Pantaleimon,
The United States of America,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Shuggie Otis,
Ronan,
Pagans,
John Lydon,
Oblivians,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Red Krayola,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Dennis Brown,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Dual Sessions,
Mantronix,
Zapp,
Reagan Youth,
Technova,
Basic Channel,
Matthew Bourne,
Parry Music,
Rites of Spring,
Chris & Cosey,
Popol Vuh,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kurtis Blow,
LL Cool J,
Smog,
H. Thieme,
Gang Gang Dance,
June of 44,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Animal Collective,
Banda Bassotti,
Junior Murvin,
Lebanon Hanover,
Vainqueur,
The Evens,
Aural Exciters,
The Barracudas,
The Associates,
DJ Style,
Erykah Badu,
Max Romeo,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.