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 Finland and from Mexico City.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Kevin Saunderson to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oneida record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry Gold Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Tomorrow,
Oneida,
The Sonics,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tommy Roe,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Zero Boys,
Visage,
Soft Cell,
Minnie Riperton,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lyres,
Slave,
Rosa Yemen,
Average White Band,
Michelle Simonal,
Vladislav Delay,
Minutemen,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sugar Minott,
Livin' Joy,
Marshall Jefferson,
Johnny Clarke,
a-ha,
The Grass Roots,
Easy Going,
Bad Manners,
Marmalade,
Neil Young,
La Düsseldorf,
Unrelated Segments,
China Crisis,
Ornette Coleman,
Essential Logic,
Brass Construction,
Crispian St. Peters,
Scott Walker,
Basic Channel,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Camouflage,
Eden Ahbez,
Sun Ra,
Curtis Mayfield,
Lakeside,
Avey Tare,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dawn Penn,
Peter and Kerry,
Bill Wells,
Jawbox,
Nation of Ulysses,
Oblivians,
Flash Fearless,
Jandek,
The Searchers,
Hardrive,
Erasure,
T. Rex,
Little Man,
The Saints,
The Doors,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.