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 Serbia and from Philadelphia.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Joe Smooth to the rock 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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Desert Stars,
Sister Nancy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Harry Pussy,
The Angels of Light,
The Red Krayola,
Rapeman,
Second Layer,
Glenn Branca,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bronski Beat,
Accadde A,
Basic Channel,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Reuben Wilson,
Visage,
Tim Buckley,
Eddi Front,
Junior Murvin,
This Heat,
Erasure,
Althea and Donna,
The Gap Band,
Severed Heads,
The Searchers,
Motorama,
Intrusion,
Ultimate Spinach,
Joey Negro,
Albert Ayler,
Malaria!,
The Neon Judgement,
Cecil Taylor,
Neu!,
Kerri Chandler,
cv313,
Minnie Riperton,
Todd Rundgren,
Duran Duran,
Altered Images,
The Grass Roots,
The Happenings,
Lindisfarne,
Little Man,
The Cramps,
Talk Talk,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Grey Daturas,
Make Up,
Sonny Sharrock,
H. Thieme,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
FM Einheit,
Eric Dolphy,
the Swans,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.