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 Yemen and from Stockholm.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 synthesizer 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 Bronski Beat to the dance 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 Tubeway Army. All the underground hits.
All Electric Light Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sight & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
David McCallum,
Main Source,
The Techniques,
The Five Americans,
Bang On A Can,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Flesh Eaters,
Moebius,
Nico,
Faust,
Kas Product,
Sugar Minott,
Ossler,
Niagra,
Barclay James Harvest,
K-Klass,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Kinks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Glenn Branca,
The Fall,
Scientists,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Brothers Johnson,
Q65,
The Young Rascals,
The Velvet Underground,
Jacques Brel,
Fear,
James White and The Blacks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Youth Brigade,
Rapeman,
The Last Poets,
CMW,
Gil Scott Heron,
Angry Samoans,
Skarface,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Babytalk,
cv313,
Pussy Galore,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Nation of Ulysses,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Jeru the Damaja,
Guru Guru,
Sarah Menescal,
Tommy Roe,
John Holt,
Todd Rundgren,
Y Pants,
Rod Modell,
the Fania All-Stars,
T.S.O.L.,
R.M.O.,
Symarip,
Sex Pistols,
The Barracudas,
The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C.
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.