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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 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 Ultimate Spinach to the techno 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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a One Last Wish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bill Near,
Gang of Four,
Michelle Simonal,
D'Angelo,
June Days,
Negative Approach,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Golliwogs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Leaves,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bang On A Can,
Depeche Mode,
The Black Dice,
The Modern Lovers,
Ten City,
Cecil Taylor,
The Buckinghams,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Byron Stingily,
The Misunderstood,
Crispy Ambulance,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Move,
Pere Ubu,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kool Moe Dee,
Radiopuhelimet,
Yaz,
The Residents,
Laurel Aitken,
Suburban Knight,
Intrusion,
Inner City,
the Association,
Chris & Cosey,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Litter,
The Dead C,
Mandrill,
Judy Mowatt,
Yellowson,
Neil Young,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rapeman,
Blake Baxter,
Dennis Brown,
Blancmange,
Sandy B,
Radio Birdman,
Mantronix,
The Alarm Clocks,
Thompson Twins,
Reagan Youth,
New York Dolls,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Scion,
The Wake,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Slits,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith.
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.