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 Liechtenstein and from Manila.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the snare 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 Lyres to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sixth Finger record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gerry Rafferty,
Mandrill,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Pylon,
Mad Mike,
Half Japanese,
Little Man,
Vainqueur,
Piero Umiliani,
The Divine Comedy,
Rod Modell,
The Five Americans,
John Foxx,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Dirtbombs,
Skarface,
Porter Ricks,
Faraquet,
AZ,
Terry Callier,
The Black Dice,
Boz Scaggs,
T. Rex,
The Cramps,
Loose Ends,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Marvin Gaye,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Soul Sonic Force,
Robert Wyatt,
David Bowie,
Nas,
B.T. Express,
Nirvana,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Circle Jerks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jeff Mills,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Soft Cell,
Davy DMX,
The Searchers,
Radiopuhelimet,
These Immortal Souls,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
K-Klass,
Alice Coltrane,
New Age Steppers,
Iggy Pop,
Josef K,
Siglo XX,
Roy Ayers,
Jacques Brel,
The Count Five,
Urselle,
Gang Green,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Television Personalities,
The Smiths,
Country Teasers,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rekid, Rekid, Rekid, Rekid.
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.