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 Kenya 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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 linndrum 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to the rap 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 Dave Gahan. All the underground hits.
All Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Sheep record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Beau Brummels,
Oneida,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
X-102,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gang Green,
One Last Wish,
Unwound,
Khruangbin,
Deakin,
Fear,
Drexciya,
Organ,
Scott Walker,
Can,
The Count Five,
The Shadows of Knight,
Television,
Donny Hathaway,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Zero Boys,
Niagra,
LL Cool J,
Terrestrial Tones,
Brothers Johnson,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Gichy Dan,
The Vogues,
Motorama,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ultimate Spinach,
Robert Hood,
Suicide,
The J.B.'s,
Prince Buster,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Crash Course in Science,
Second Layer,
Basic Channel,
Pussy Galore,
David Axelrod,
Darondo,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Wasted Youth,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Selecter,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Swans,
The Names,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fat Boys,
Qualms,
Spandau Ballet,
Con Funk Shun,
Patti Smith,
Massinfluence,
The Grass Roots,
The Star Department,
The Evens,
Los Fastidios,
Joe Smooth,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.