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 Burkina and from Mumbai.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the guitar 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 Scrapy to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All Skaos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hot Snakes,
The Trojans,
Grauzone,
KRS-One,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Zeros,
Saccharine Trust,
Peter and Kerry,
Los Fastidios,
Nick Fraelich,
FM Einheit,
Public Enemy,
Sarah Menescal,
The Velvet Underground,
The Residents,
Organ,
Bad Manners,
Unrelated Segments,
B.T. Express,
X-Ray Spex,
Mary Jane Girls,
Steve Hackett,
Lucky Dragons,
Suicide,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Marine Girls,
Massinfluence,
Eric Dolphy,
The Monochrome Set,
Todd Terry,
Wire,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Alphaville,
Yaz,
The Martian,
Kaleidoscope,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Warsaw,
E-Dancer,
H. Thieme,
OOIOO,
PIL,
The Red Krayola,
The Slits,
Barclay James Harvest,
Shoche,
Parry Music,
Alice Coltrane,
Marmalade,
The Music Machine,
Sexual Harrassment,
Pulsallama,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Angry Samoans,
Cluster,
Godley & Creme,
Dawn Penn,
Agent Orange,
Smog,
Pere Ubu,
The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy.
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.