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 Gabon and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Last Poets to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roger Hodgson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
Sällskapet,
Joe Finger,
The Monochrome Set,
The Seeds,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sixth Finger,
Audionom,
Swans,
Pantytec,
The Modern Lovers,
Royal Trux,
These Immortal Souls,
Shoche,
B.T. Express,
The Victims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Stooges,
The Blues Magoos,
The Remains,
Trumans Water,
Kurtis Blow,
Erasure,
Subhumans,
Cameo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Make Up,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Fall,
Scan 7,
Rekid,
Average White Band,
Ultravox,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Scott Walker,
Ossler,
Monolake,
Jacob Miller,
Spoonie Gee,
Second Layer,
The Smoke,
Gang of Four,
Anakelly,
Sight & Sound,
48th St. Collective,
Boz Scaggs,
Bang On A Can,
The Litter,
Gang Starr,
Supertramp,
Outsiders,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Evens,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Eve St. Jones,
Inner City,
The Smiths,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.