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 Kenya and from Cairo.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ken Boothe to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Toni Rubio. All the underground hits.
All Patti Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Rundgren record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boz Scaggs,
Rekid,
Quantec,
The Seeds,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Curtis Mayfield,
Byron Stingily,
Pussy Galore,
John Cale,
Nation of Ulysses,
D'Angelo,
Charles Mingus,
Eve St. Jones,
Bang On A Can,
Lightning Bolt,
Black Bananas,
the Sonics,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
UT,
Delon & Dalcan,
H. Thieme,
The Modern Lovers,
Adolescents,
Visage,
The Names,
Howard Jones,
Monks,
Lower 48,
Second Layer,
Barbara Tucker,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lou Christie,
Schoolly D,
KRS-One,
Rapeman,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Public Image Ltd.,
Quando Quango,
The Velvet Underground,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
the Germs,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Yusef Lateef,
Erasure,
These Immortal Souls,
T.S.O.L.,
Newcleus,
Q65,
David Axelrod,
Icehouse,
Trumans Water,
In Retrospect,
Alison Limerick,
Brass Construction,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Associates,
Jandek,
Tom Boy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Y Pants,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Blake Baxter,
Frankie Knuckles,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.