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 Sweden and from Tokyo.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the sitar 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 Sight & Sound to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Joe Finger. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Rundgren record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Big Daddy Kane,
The Fire Engines,
Y Pants,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Yazoo,
Charles Mingus,
Rakim,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Soul II Soul,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Cowsills,
Panda Bear,
Jerry's Kids,
Laurel Aitken,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Public Enemy,
The Motions,
the Association,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sight & Sound,
The Raincoats,
the Human League,
Glenn Branca,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Flag,
Swell Maps,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dark Day,
Joey Negro,
Suicide,
John Coltrane,
Gong,
Bob Dylan,
In Retrospect,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Groovy Waters,
New Age Steppers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gregory Isaacs,
Wasted Youth,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Excepter,
Janne Schatter,
The Music Machine,
Ralphi Rosario,
Pussy Galore,
Motorama,
The Doors,
The Kinks,
Brass Construction,
R.M.O.,
Junior Murvin,
Roxy Music,
Khruangbin,
Index,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sister Nancy,
Robert Görl,
Jacques Brel,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.