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 Libya and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Urselle to the disco 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yazoo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
Cecil Taylor,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
John Cale,
The Mojo Men,
Chris Corsano,
Laurel Aitken,
Whodini,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Delon & Dalcan,
Derrick May,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Invisible,
Tropical Tobacco,
Archie Shepp,
the Slits,
Underground Resistance,
Funkadelic,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lalann,
Rhythm & Sound,
E-Dancer,
Jacob Miller,
The Gap Band,
Reuben Wilson,
JFA,
The Cramps,
The Electric Prunes,
The Pretty Things,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Pierre Henry,
Young Marble Giants,
Janne Schatter,
Amazonics,
The Saints,
Japan,
Fela Kuti,
Sister Nancy,
Zapp,
Blossom Toes,
Skarface,
Index,
Rakim,
Sonic Youth,
Banda Bassotti,
Pulsallama,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Intrusion,
Crash Course in Science,
Sun City Girls,
Slick Rick,
Agent Orange,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Index,
Carl Craig,
Ronnie Foster,
Surgeon,
Flash Fearless,
The Raincoats,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.