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 Mongolia and from Lyon.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Fall to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 the Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerrie Biddell,
Technova,
Black Flag,
The Cowsills,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Moody Blues,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Mary Jane Girls,
Severed Heads,
Adolescents,
Howard Jones,
Marmalade,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Pop Group,
The Index,
David Axelrod,
Can,
Mantronix,
Arthur Verocai,
Subhumans,
Nils Olav,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lou Reed,
Dennis Brown,
Bang On A Can,
Alice Coltrane,
Lindisfarne,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sugar Minott,
Ten City,
Nas,
The Fire Engines,
Kas Product,
Mandrill,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The United States of America,
Althea and Donna,
Bobby Byrd,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Arcadia,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Mummies,
The Trojans,
Ken Boothe,
Prince Buster,
Make Up,
Crash Course in Science,
June Days,
Eve St. Jones,
Flash Fearless,
Donny Hathaway,
Erykah Badu,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Matthew Bourne,
Soft Machine,
Scion,
Black Pus,
Essential Logic,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.