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 Fiji and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Glasgow.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Ponytail to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Barclay James Harvest. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Surgeon,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
David McCallum,
The Toasters,
10cc,
The Monochrome Set,
Johnny Osbourne,
Arthur Verocai,
Camouflage,
Magazine,
Drive Like Jehu,
Scion,
the Swans,
Erasure,
Lakeside,
The Barracudas,
Amon Düül,
Magma,
Junior Murvin,
Ronan,
The Five Americans,
Tears for Fears,
X-102,
Mandrill,
Thee Headcoats,
Sparks,
Wire,
The Leaves,
Cluster,
China Crisis,
Heaven 17,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
MDC,
The Associates,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Angels of Light,
Ken Boothe,
Johnny Clarke,
June Days,
Wally Richardson,
The Mummies,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ralphi Rosario,
Flash Fearless,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
UT,
Sister Nancy,
Tubeway Army,
The Move,
The Slits,
Kerrie Biddell,
Newcleus,
JFA,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
H. Thieme,
Theoretical Girls,
Gichy Dan,
Sandy B,
The Count Five,
The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band.
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.