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 Tanzania and from Winnipeg.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the grime 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 Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultra Naté record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brothers Johnson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lucky Dragons,
Moss Icon,
The Grass Roots,
This Heat,
Harpers Bizarre,
Brand Nubian,
Chris & Cosey,
Faraquet,
Soul Sonic Force,
Outsiders,
Bauhaus,
Cluster,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Yellowson,
The Blackbyrds,
Brass Construction,
David McCallum,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
PIL,
Lindisfarne,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Cowsills,
B.T. Express,
Amazonics,
Donny Hathaway,
Bobby Sherman,
Derrick Morgan,
Wings,
Main Source,
10cc,
China Crisis,
John Holt,
Marvin Gaye,
The Techniques,
Black Moon,
Pierre Henry,
The Blues Magoos,
One Last Wish,
Model 500,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Mantronix,
Absolute Body Control,
Glambeats Corp.,
Soft Cell,
Dorothy Ashby,
Arab on Radar,
The Evens,
MC5,
La Düsseldorf,
The New Christs,
The Residents,
Ultravox,
The Moody Blues,
Max Romeo,
Freddie Wadling,
The Selecter,
Gregory Isaacs,
Camouflage,
Man Eating Sloth,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Jesper Dahlback, Jesper Dahlback, Jesper Dahlback, Jesper Dahlback.
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.