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 Moldova and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 ABC to the grime 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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All The Five Americans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kurtis Blow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Victims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Last Poets,
Parry Music,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Brick,
Main Source,
Eric Copeland,
The Velvet Underground,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fear,
Skarface,
Organ,
Aaron Thompson,
Jacob Miller,
The Golliwogs,
The Stooges,
Nation of Ulysses,
Youth Brigade,
Derrick May,
Tim Buckley,
Ten City,
Soulsonic Force,
Ken Boothe,
CMW,
Gong,
Bobby Byrd,
Saccharine Trust,
Minny Pops,
Black Moon,
Quando Quango,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lou Christie,
Matthew Bourne,
Malaria!,
Byron Stingily,
Grauzone,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Radio Birdman,
Joe Smooth,
Sugar Minott,
Smog,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Gang of Four,
Fifty Foot Hose,
It's A Beautiful Day,
EPMD,
Jawbox,
Agitation Free,
Average White Band,
Terrestrial Tones,
Kool Moe Dee,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Television,
The Alarm Clocks,
Trumans Water,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Urselle,
Make Up,
Derrick Morgan,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.