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 Romania and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Public Image Ltd. to the rock 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 the Slits. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s 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 Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rotary Connection,
The Slackers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Newcleus,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Q and Not U,
Joyce Sims,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gang Gang Dance,
Niagra,
Babytalk,
Crash Course in Science,
Charles Mingus,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Fall,
Thee Headcoats,
Tim Buckley,
Inner City,
PIL,
Faraquet,
Negative Approach,
The Monochrome Set,
Radiopuhelimet,
Cymande,
Symarip,
Aaron Thompson,
Crispian St. Peters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Music Machine,
Amon Düül,
The Wake,
The Sound,
Q65,
MDC,
Cecil Taylor,
Siglo XX,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Porter Ricks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Wire,
Hasil Adkins,
Make Up,
The Walker Brothers,
Duran Duran,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Index,
Tubeway Army,
Aloha Tigers,
Dawn Penn,
The Golliwogs,
Wasted Youth,
Marcia Griffiths,
Scion,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Mars,
Eric Dolphy,
Crooked Eye,
Moby Grape,
Joy Division,
The Mummies,
Janne Schatter,
The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood.
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.