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 Bhutan and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare 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 Kerrie Biddell to the funk 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 Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
Tommy Roe,
Electric Prunes,
Derrick May,
a-ha,
Fort Wilson Riot,
the Bar-Kays,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Aswad,
Soft Machine,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Lindisfarne,
The Fugs,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Mantronix,
Spoonie Gee,
DJ Sneak,
The Beau Brummels,
The Cowsills,
Ornette Coleman,
Maurizio,
Aural Exciters,
Interpol,
Fugazi,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lee Hazlewood,
Isaac Hayes,
Shuggie Otis,
Matthew Bourne,
Eurythmics,
Dawn Penn,
Basic Channel,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bluetip,
The Dead C,
The Gap Band,
The Invisible,
Lakeside,
FM Einheit,
Carl Craig,
Massinfluence,
Public Enemy,
Johnny Osbourne,
Freddie Wadling,
MC5,
Cheater Slicks,
Duran Duran,
Gregory Isaacs,
Arab on Radar,
The Real Kids,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Mark Hollis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
ABBA,
Juan Atkins,
Motorama,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Nas,
Franke,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ken Boothe,
EPMD, EPMD, EPMD, EPMD.
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.