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 Taiwan and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Grandmaster Flash to the jazz 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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tubeway Army,
F. McDonald,
Derrick Morgan,
Jeff Lynne,
Ituana,
Sun Ra,
Von Mondo,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
June Days,
Rites of Spring,
Slick Rick,
Arthur Verocai,
Piero Umiliani,
Fear,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Blossom Toes,
The Dead C,
Interpol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Albert Ayler,
Depeche Mode,
Barbara Tucker,
The Modern Lovers,
Zapp,
Infiniti,
Matthew Bourne,
Jesper Dahlback,
Mr. Review,
Shoche,
The Smoke,
Wings,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bobby Byrd,
Arab on Radar,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Yellowson,
The Zeros,
The Barracudas,
This Heat,
Ice-T,
Minnie Riperton,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Howard Jones,
The Leaves,
The Martian,
Ultimate Spinach,
Animal Collective,
Sexual Harrassment,
Wasted Youth,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Panda Bear,
The Gun Club,
Donny Hathaway,
Rotary Connection,
Jacques Brel,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gil Scott Heron,
Johnny Clarke,
The Skatalites,
Intrusion,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.