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 Italy and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Excepter to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry's Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Cowsills,
Nick Fraelich,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
10cc,
The Blackbyrds,
Heaven 17,
Bob Dylan,
Reagan Youth,
Jimmy McGriff,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Black Sheep,
The Skatalites,
Mad Mike,
Soul Sonic Force,
Unwound,
Marmalade,
Dead Boys,
Royal Trux,
Minor Threat,
X-Ray Spex,
Sound Behaviour,
Slave,
the Slits,
Fatback Band,
Radiohead,
Peter & Gordon,
The Young Rascals,
Danielle Patucci,
Bill Near,
FM Einheit,
The Martian,
Duran Duran,
Pole,
the Human League,
Bad Manners,
New Order,
Be Bop Deluxe,
La Düsseldorf,
Ornette Coleman,
Faraquet,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Moby Grape,
The Associates,
Sister Nancy,
The Doobie Brothers,
Vainqueur,
Prince Buster,
Babytalk,
Amazonics,
Cameo,
Minutemen,
Maleditus Sound,
Agitation Free,
Crispian St. Peters,
Silicon Teens,
The Residents,
Hardrive,
Steve Hackett,
Sandy B,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.