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 Tonga and from Taipei.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dorothy Ashby to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All Todd Rundgren tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cymande,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Goldenarms,
Quantec,
Dawn Penn,
Echospace,
The Saints,
Hasil Adkins,
The Slackers,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bobby Sherman,
Aloha Tigers,
MC5,
Saccharine Trust,
Joe Finger,
Ash Ra Tempel,
New Age Steppers,
Average White Band,
DNA,
Kool Moe Dee,
Chris & Cosey,
Stereo Dub,
Ornette Coleman,
The Doobie Brothers,
E-Dancer,
Icehouse,
The American Breed,
Lou Reed,
Main Source,
The Buckinghams,
Letta Mbulu,
Ice-T,
Aswad,
CMW,
The Knickerbockers,
Ken Boothe,
The Fall,
Sparks,
Avey Tare,
10cc,
Zero Boys,
Eric B and Rakim,
Colin Newman,
Idris Muhammad,
Monks,
Yusef Lateef,
Joyce Sims,
Los Fastidios,
The Gladiators,
The Black Dice,
The Monks,
Smog,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Outsiders,
Scion,
the Association,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Pretty Things,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Sonics,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Skarface, Skarface, Skarface, Skarface.
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.