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 Guatemala and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Manchester.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Schoolly D to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 8 Eyed Spy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T.S.O.L.,
Sun Ra,
the Soft Cell,
The Music Machine,
Zero Boys,
OOIOO,
Crooked Eye,
Throbbing Gristle,
Rod Modell,
Black Sheep,
Neil Young,
Monks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Brass Construction,
Danielle Patucci,
the Bar-Kays,
Procol Harum,
JFA,
Jawbox,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Five Americans,
Soft Machine,
The Last Poets,
Groovy Waters,
Blossom Toes,
Eric Copeland,
Silicon Teens,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Velvet Underground,
The J.B.'s,
Urselle,
Brick,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
John Cale,
Tropical Tobacco,
Lou Christie,
Moby Grape,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gerry Rafferty,
Ten City,
Rekid,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sight & Sound,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Busters,
Magma,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bronski Beat,
The Trojans,
Spandau Ballet,
Black Moon,
Prince Buster,
Slick Rick,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lightning Bolt,
EPMD,
Ken Boothe,
Swans,
Buzzcocks,
Camberwell Now,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.