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 Syria and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 snare 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 Moleskins to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tom Boy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Ronan,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
David Axelrod,
LL Cool J,
Public Image Ltd.,
T. Rex,
Sonny Sharrock,
Icehouse,
Colin Newman,
Bush Tetras,
Gang Green,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Letta Mbulu,
The Human League,
the Soft Cell,
the Swans,
Ponytail,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Barracudas,
Frankie Knuckles,
Fugazi,
Zapp,
Drexciya,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Groovy Waters,
Barry Ungar,
The Moleskins,
The Dead C,
The Cure,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Girls At Our Best!,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Avey Tare,
Josef K,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
the Bar-Kays,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Standells,
Sam Rivers,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Slits,
Blancmange,
The Last Poets,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Agent Orange,
Newcleus,
Brand Nubian,
The Fugs,
Joyce Sims,
Dead Boys,
The J.B.'s,
The Techniques,
Agitation Free,
Deakin,
The Slackers,
Guru Guru,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.