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 Switzerland and from Copenhagen.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ 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 Half Japanese to the jazz 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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
James White and The Blacks,
Archie Shepp,
Aaron Thompson,
Crime,
Roy Ayers,
Juan Atkins,
Mo-Dettes,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Skatalites,
Stetsasonic,
Lungfish,
The Searchers,
Erykah Badu,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Todd Terry,
Cameo,
Deakin,
New Age Steppers,
John Holt,
Dorothy Ashby,
Country Teasers,
Neu!,
Roger Hodgson,
Kevin Saunderson,
Blossom Toes,
K-Klass,
The Cure,
The Beau Brummels,
Jeru the Damaja,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
New Order,
Man Parrish,
The Wake,
Tom Boy,
The Moleskins,
Minutemen,
Niagra,
Brand Nubian,
Blancmange,
E-Dancer,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Panda Bear,
Agent Orange,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Hot Snakes,
In Retrospect,
The Residents,
The Fortunes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Fall,
Quadrant,
Surgeon,
Gang of Four,
Alison Limerick,
The Five Americans,
Connie Case,
Barrington Levy,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.