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 Gambia and from Bologna.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Arcadia 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 China Crisis. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
Quantec,
Mantronix,
Alice Coltrane,
Gabor Szabo,
Bobby Sherman,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ludus,
Josef K,
the Human League,
Letta Mbulu,
Duran Duran,
Sonny Sharrock,
Morten Harket,
the Swans,
Excepter,
Sound Behaviour,
Eden Ahbez,
Niagra,
Aloha Tigers,
Neu!,
Stockholm Monsters,
Neil Young,
Surgeon,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Nick Fraelich,
Pole,
Joe Smooth,
Harry Pussy,
David Bowie,
Buzzcocks,
The Slackers,
Oblivians,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
OOIOO,
The Flesh Eaters,
Young Marble Giants,
Scientists,
Derrick May,
Ice-T,
Althea and Donna,
Ossler,
Kayak,
Bill Wells,
One Last Wish,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Danielle Patucci,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Man Parrish,
Marc Almond,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Maurizio,
Schoolly D,
Henry Cow,
Sight & Sound,
Gichy Dan,
Pere Ubu,
Negative Approach,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.