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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Accra.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Michelle Simonal to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Hoover. All the underground hits.
All Dual Sessions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kurtis Blow 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Image Ltd. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun City Girls,
Malaria!,
Scrapy,
Dawn Penn,
Cheater Slicks,
La Düsseldorf,
Technova,
Spoonie Gee,
Erasure,
Babytalk,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Be Bop Deluxe,
cv313,
Cameo,
Wally Richardson,
Terrestrial Tones,
Albert Ayler,
The Fall,
Radiohead,
Terry Callier,
Derrick Morgan,
Gang Gang Dance,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Tomorrow,
Fela Kuti,
Yusef Lateef,
The Selecter,
The Smiths,
Anthony Braxton,
Mo-Dettes,
Amazonics,
Cecil Taylor,
Scientists,
Animal Collective,
Lucky Dragons,
The Mojo Men,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Sisters of Mercy,
K-Klass,
The Martian,
Max Romeo,
Rosa Yemen,
Wasted Youth,
Dennis Brown,
Shoche,
Grey Daturas,
Byron Stingily,
Ice-T,
Nirvana,
Moebius,
Bob Dylan,
The Offenders,
Joensuu 1685,
Gabor Szabo,
The Remains,
Masters at Work,
Man Parrish,
Motorama,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Golliwogs,
Organ, Organ, Organ, Organ.
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.