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 Bulgaria and from Seoul.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Wolf Eyes to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Dennis Brown. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Wasted Youth,
Sight & Sound,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Terrestrial Tones,
Piero Umiliani,
Mark Hollis,
the Human League,
Desert Stars,
Tim Buckley,
Pet Shop Boys,
Cybotron,
James White and The Blacks,
Bad Manners,
Anthony Braxton,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Glambeats Corp.,
Oneida,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Pantytec,
Barbara Tucker,
Yellowson,
Nik Kershaw,
Ultra Naté,
Trumans Water,
Brothers Johnson,
Aloha Tigers,
Minny Pops,
Popol Vuh,
Suburban Knight,
Public Enemy,
PIL,
John Lydon,
Joey Negro,
Arab on Radar,
Prince Buster,
Joy Division,
Pylon,
Icehouse,
Crispian St. Peters,
Crooked Eye,
Blancmange,
Brick,
The Searchers,
Harry Pussy,
Bill Near,
Pharoah Sanders,
K-Klass,
Sex Pistols,
The Wake,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Mighty Diamonds,
New Age Steppers,
Eve St. Jones,
Tropical Tobacco,
Can,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Black Pus,
Aural Exciters,
Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One.
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.