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 Armenia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Severed Heads to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Magazine,
AZ,
Sister Nancy,
Connie Case,
Agitation Free,
Dennis Brown,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
David Axelrod,
Au Pairs,
Con Funk Shun,
Roger Hodgson,
Spandau Ballet,
Cameo,
Whodini,
Motorama,
Peter & Gordon,
Can,
Al Stewart,
Kas Product,
DJ Style,
Arcadia,
Nas,
The Invisible,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sound Behaviour,
Sparks,
Morten Harket,
Lightning Bolt,
The Monochrome Set,
Rosa Yemen,
Althea and Donna,
Theoretical Girls,
Warren Ellis,
Radiohead,
Michelle Simonal,
The Raincoats,
Johnny Clarke,
Bizarre Inc.,
Second Layer,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ludus,
Glambeats Corp.,
Boz Scaggs,
The Evens,
Rakim,
Sällskapet,
New Age Steppers,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Bronski Beat,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Pierre Henry,
Cluster,
Donald Byrd,
Chris & Cosey,
Yusef Lateef,
The Moody Blues,
The Count Five,
The Leaves,
the Sonics,
Livin' Joy,
The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice.
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.