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 Guyana and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Fortunes to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Soft Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Be Bop Deluxe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Chrome record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Agent Orange,
Stockholm Monsters,
Letta Mbulu,
D'Angelo,
The Kinks,
Television Personalities,
Grauzone,
Pagans,
Zapp,
Ponytail,
The Vogues,
Negative Approach,
Mo-Dettes,
The Blackbyrds,
Wasted Youth,
Dark Day,
Heaven 17,
Judy Mowatt,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Qualms,
Guru Guru,
Bootsy Collins,
Lower 48,
Wings,
Newcleus,
Moby Grape,
Ultra Naté,
David McCallum,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Moleskins,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Charles Mingus,
Fear,
Funky Four + One,
Roxette,
Smog,
New Age Steppers,
Motorama,
The Real Kids,
Rosa Yemen,
The Fugs,
Average White Band,
Yellowson,
Hashim,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
David Bowie,
Rekid,
Minnie Riperton,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Junior Murvin,
Davy DMX,
Can,
Harpers Bizarre,
Skaos,
Y Pants,
Bobby Sherman,
Symarip,
Johnny Clarke,
Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal, Sarah Menescal.
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.