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 Suriname and from Accra.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Gabor Szabo to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Howard Jones. All the underground hits.
All Wire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Royal Family And The Poor record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bush Tetras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Saints,
Pagans,
The Raincoats,
Scion,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Stiv Bators,
The Evens,
the Fania All-Stars,
Patti Smith,
Bobby Womack,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Litter,
The Gladiators,
Tomorrow,
The Gun Club,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Main Source,
Crash Course in Science,
Khruangbin,
Index,
The Fugs,
The Skatalites,
Fugazi,
Erykah Badu,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sandy B,
Wally Richardson,
Young Marble Giants,
Nas,
Magazine,
Yaz,
The Grass Roots,
D'Angelo,
Soul Sonic Force,
John Coltrane,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gabor Szabo,
The Standells,
the Slits,
Marine Girls,
Suburban Knight,
Ronnie Foster,
Stereo Dub,
The Golliwogs,
Dennis Brown,
Brick,
Rapeman,
Bad Manners,
Big Daddy Kane,
Visage,
Hoover,
Panda Bear,
Rod Modell,
Harmonia,
Iggy Pop,
Y Pants,
Tres Demented,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.