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 Kazakhstan and from Houston.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 snare 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 Oblivians to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Masters at Work tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Easy Going record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Donny Hathaway,
Joey Negro,
ABC,
Curtis Mayfield,
Wire,
The Names,
kango's stein massive,
Suicide,
La Düsseldorf,
Cal Tjader,
Con Funk Shun,
the Slits,
Hot Snakes,
Terry Callier,
Warsaw,
K-Klass,
David Axelrod,
Reuben Wilson,
Pagans,
The Electric Prunes,
Minny Pops,
Country Teasers,
Joyce Sims,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bill Near,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Vladislav Delay,
Trumans Water,
The Beau Brummels,
Brick,
Harry Pussy,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Derrick Morgan,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Robert Hood,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Black Flag,
Grey Daturas,
Liliput,
Spoonie Gee,
Nils Olav,
Magma,
Aswad,
The Wake,
Skarface,
Toni Rubio,
Piero Umiliani,
Albert Ayler,
Funky Four + One,
Youth Brigade,
Can,
Rites of Spring,
Gichy Dan,
The Count Five,
Sex Pistols,
London Community Gospel Choir,
the Swans,
Black Pus,
Qualms,
Roy Ayers,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.