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 Sudan 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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 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 Subhumans to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ornette Coleman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
R.M.O.,
Robert Wyatt,
Stereo Dub,
Curtis Mayfield,
Lalo Schifrin,
Erasure,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Todd Rundgren,
Ultravox,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Modern Lovers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Marine Girls,
The Vogues,
Terry Callier,
EPMD,
Vainqueur,
The Evens,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Unrelated Segments,
Monks,
Donald Byrd,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Godley & Creme,
Sun Ra,
Aural Exciters,
Panda Bear,
Kerrie Biddell,
Swell Maps,
Lungfish,
Leonard Cohen,
Livin' Joy,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Andrew Hill,
Scion,
Soulsonic Force,
Aaron Thompson,
Robert Hood,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Maleditus Sound,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mandrill,
Schoolly D,
John Lydon,
Sarah Menescal,
Wire,
the Bar-Kays,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gang Green,
Iggy Pop,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Knickerbockers,
Arcadia,
The Skatalites,
Second Layer,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Television Personalities,
Von Mondo,
Dead Boys,
Joe Finger,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.