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 China and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 David Bowie 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 The Last Poets to the techno 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 Motorama. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gerry Rafferty 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Japan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Patti Smith,
Suicide,
Michelle Simonal,
The Fire Engines,
Goldenarms,
Banda Bassotti,
Vladislav Delay,
Royal Trux,
Eurythmics,
Ultra Naté,
The Electric Prunes,
The Fall,
The Sound,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ornette Coleman,
Davy DMX,
Ice-T,
Nick Fraelich,
Pierre Henry,
The Gladiators,
The Kinks,
Scion,
Amazonics,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sugar Minott,
The Misunderstood,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Jacob Miller,
Derrick May,
D'Angelo,
The Saints,
Joyce Sims,
Brothers Johnson,
The Doors,
Ultravox,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Cowsills,
The Flesh Eaters,
Glenn Branca,
New Age Steppers,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lower 48,
Yazoo,
Lyres,
Gang Green,
The Martian,
The Move,
Quando Quango,
Wolf Eyes,
Andrew Hill,
Desert Stars,
Funky Four + One,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.