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 Palau and from Lille.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 R.M.O. to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The United States of America. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Knickerbockers,
Basic Channel,
Wolf Eyes,
Sex Pistols,
The Golliwogs,
The Slits,
Panda Bear,
Gang Green,
Marmalade,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lungfish,
Dennis Brown,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Vladislav Delay,
Thee Headcoats,
X-Ray Spex,
Kerri Chandler,
The Vogues,
Josef K,
Scientists,
Sandy B,
Sun Ra,
Cheater Slicks,
The Shadows of Knight,
Godley & Creme,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Eli Mardock,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flash Fearless,
Davy DMX,
Slave,
The Blues Magoos,
John Cale,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Y Pants,
Chris Corsano,
Connie Case,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Donald Byrd,
Aloha Tigers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Laurel Aitken,
David Axelrod,
The Invisible,
CMW,
The Searchers,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Germs,
Kayak,
Cybotron,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
John Holt,
Dorothy Ashby,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
L. Decosne,
the Human League,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Associates,
Chrome, Chrome, Chrome, Chrome.
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.