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 Swaziland and from Sao Paulo.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Swans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Detroit Cobras record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gil Scott Heron,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Byron Stingily,
Vladislav Delay,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultra Naté,
Hot Snakes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Moebius,
Unrelated Segments,
Cheater Slicks,
Intrusion,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
the Sonics,
Hashim,
Qualms,
Tomorrow,
DNA,
the Soft Cell,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kerrie Biddell,
Cameo,
Joe Finger,
Jandek,
One Last Wish,
Juan Atkins,
Roy Ayers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Funky Four + One,
Pylon,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Associates,
The Shadows of Knight,
Man Parrish,
The Modern Lovers,
Barry Ungar,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Godley & Creme,
Joensuu 1685,
Von Mondo,
Crispian St. Peters,
Joy Division,
Technova,
a-ha,
Drexciya,
Cecil Taylor,
Jesper Dahlback,
Chris & Cosey,
The Fall,
The Stooges,
The Knickerbockers,
Essential Logic,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Aural Exciters,
The Mighty Diamonds,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lucky Dragons,
Ken Boothe,
Oneida,
Harry Pussy,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.