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 Germany and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Wings 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam. All the underground hits.
All Lou Christie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minny Pops record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Motions,
Kerri Chandler,
Scan 7,
Harpers Bizarre,
Roxette,
Alphaville,
Gong,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Au Pairs,
the Human League,
Fat Boys,
Schoolly D,
Kas Product,
Dark Day,
Grandmaster Flash,
Byron Stingily,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gang Starr,
Thompson Twins,
Aural Exciters,
Fugazi,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
New York Dolls,
Mary Jane Girls,
Theoretical Girls,
John Coltrane,
Jacob Miller,
Wally Richardson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
JFA,
The Vogues,
Danielle Patucci,
Eric B and Rakim,
Funkadelic,
The Durutti Column,
Deadbeat,
Amazonics,
Howard Jones,
Ice-T,
The Residents,
Blake Baxter,
Con Funk Shun,
Brothers Johnson,
Dawn Penn,
Archie Shepp,
Don Cherry,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Searchers,
Nick Fraelich,
X-Ray Spex,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Cheater Slicks,
Unwound,
Masters at Work,
The Detroit Cobras,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.