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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Robert Hood to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All F. McDonald tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick Morgan,
A Certain Ratio,
Wings,
Gil Scott Heron,
Dave Gahan,
Eden Ahbez,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
John Coltrane,
Spandau Ballet,
Qualms,
Max Romeo,
Tropical Tobacco,
Delon & Dalcan,
In Retrospect,
Rekid,
Absolute Body Control,
Susan Cadogan,
Tommy Roe,
Skarface,
Mandrill,
Barry Ungar,
Wire,
Wally Richardson,
Reagan Youth,
Faraquet,
Electric Prunes,
Guru Guru,
The Neon Judgement,
Dark Day,
Youth Brigade,
Brand Nubian,
Jawbox,
Average White Band,
Chrome,
Swell Maps,
Alphaville,
Ronnie Foster,
The Electric Prunes,
the Association,
Eric B and Rakim,
Essential Logic,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Malaria!,
Jandek,
Dawn Penn,
Neil Young,
Crime,
Black Sheep,
Motorama,
The Associates,
Kayak,
the Slits,
The Gap Band,
Bill Wells,
Reuben Wilson,
Altered Images,
Ice-T,
Warren Ellis,
Thee Headcoats,
Iggy Pop,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.