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 Equatorial Guinea 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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 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 Vladislav Delay to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Livin' Joy. All the underground hits.
All The Velvet Underground tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marshall Jefferson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yaz,
Barrington Levy,
Sugar Minott,
Wire,
Brothers Johnson,
Goldenarms,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Leonard Cohen,
The Dave Clark Five,
Todd Rundgren,
Niagra,
Rekid,
The Mummies,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jeff Lynne,
New York Dolls,
Harmonia,
Malaria!,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Swell Maps,
Mary Jane Girls,
a-ha,
Aswad,
E-Dancer,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Todd Terry,
the Normal,
EPMD,
The Blues Magoos,
Minutemen,
Dead Boys,
Pharoah Sanders,
Deadbeat,
Parry Music,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Cal Tjader,
Johnny Osbourne,
Nas,
Gregory Isaacs,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Techniques,
the Association,
Scion,
Lindisfarne,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Zero Boys,
Neu!,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Little Man,
Chris Corsano,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bobby Sherman,
Rufus Thomas,
Davy DMX,
Masters at Work,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Gun Club,
The Fall,
Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads.
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.