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 Grenada and from Copenhagen.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Glenn Branca to the rap 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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arcadia 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flash Fearless record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Larry & the Blue Notes,
the Sonics,
Charles Mingus,
Radiohead,
Motorama,
The Victims,
David Bowie,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Martian,
Dawn Penn,
Dennis Brown,
The Fortunes,
Icehouse,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Bobby Womack,
Smog,
The Cure,
The Raincoats,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Au Pairs,
Negative Approach,
Anthony Braxton,
Kenny Larkin,
Suburban Knight,
The Gun Club,
Byron Stingily,
Lightning Bolt,
Ornette Coleman,
Whodini,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Desert Stars,
Chris & Cosey,
The New Christs,
Wire,
Graham Central Station,
The Doobie Brothers,
Royal Trux,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rekid,
Peter and Kerry,
H. Thieme,
Wings,
Basic Channel,
Rotary Connection,
Rufus Thomas,
Babytalk,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Albert Ayler,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bill Near,
The Doors,
Brick,
Groovy Waters,
Unrelated Segments,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thompson Twins,
Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7.
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.