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 Djibouti and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Donald Fagen 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 Jacob Miller to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Tom Boy. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Skatalites,
Altered Images,
Faraquet,
Rod Modell,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Crispy Ambulance,
June of 44,
Silicon Teens,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ultimate Spinach,
Chris Corsano,
Todd Rundgren,
Soulsonic Force,
The Standells,
Minor Threat,
Kerri Chandler,
Black Flag,
Gang of Four,
The Names,
X-Ray Spex,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Khruangbin,
The Barracudas,
Masters at Work,
cv313,
Supertramp,
Suicide,
Sun Ra,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amon Düül II,
ABBA,
The Smoke,
The Pop Group,
June Days,
Wally Richardson,
The Vogues,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Marcia Griffiths,
F. McDonald,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Misunderstood,
Sandy B,
Eric B and Rakim,
Television,
Model 500,
Severed Heads,
The Associates,
The Litter,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Outsiders,
Gregory Isaacs,
Boredoms,
Matthew Bourne,
AZ,
Subhumans,
OOIOO,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Aural Exciters,
John Lydon,
Camberwell Now,
Iggy Pop,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.