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 Uganda and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes 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 X-Ray Spex to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Gang Starr. All the underground hits.
All Mantronix tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Depeche Mode record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Pus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
The Moody Blues,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Charles Mingus,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Gories,
The Fire Engines,
Dennis Brown,
The Invisible,
Mandrill,
the Bar-Kays,
Cecil Taylor,
MC5,
The Happenings,
R.M.O.,
Monolake,
The Wake,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Can,
Chris & Cosey,
Girls At Our Best!,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Fortunes,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Marvin Gaye,
Skarface,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Deadbeat,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Mantronix,
Con Funk Shun,
Boogie Down Productions,
Clear Light,
Mo-Dettes,
The Slackers,
Fluxion,
Sun City Girls,
Minnie Riperton,
Ten City,
FM Einheit,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Television Personalities,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Chrome,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Seeds,
Hot Snakes,
The Modern Lovers,
Jeff Lynne,
Crooked Eye,
The Electric Prunes,
Darondo,
Massinfluence,
Mary Jane Girls,
Tommy Roe,
Electric Light Orchestra,
CMW,
Scientists,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Slits,
Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion.
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.