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 Ghana and from Lagos.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Grass Roots to the crunk 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 Tommy Roe. All the underground hits.
All Infiniti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grey Daturas 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
CMW,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Nation of Ulysses,
DJ Style,
Donny Hathaway,
The Move,
Howard Jones,
Soul Sonic Force,
Morten Harket,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Aswad,
New York Dolls,
Barrington Levy,
Fugazi,
Freddie Wadling,
Fluxion,
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The American Breed,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Divine Comedy,
Television Personalities,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Sun Ra,
Ultra Naté,
The Mojo Men,
Bauhaus,
Sister Nancy,
Joensuu 1685,
Malaria!,
Clear Light,
Bobby Womack,
The Sonics,
Bush Tetras,
Cal Tjader,
Qualms,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Patti Smith,
Royal Trux,
Harpers Bizarre,
Adolescents,
Ludus,
Amon Düül II,
Scott Walker,
Excepter,
Dawn Penn,
Tomorrow,
Absolute Body Control,
Don Cherry,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Alarm Clocks,
Boredoms,
The Fugs,
Procol Harum,
Sight & Sound,
Popol Vuh,
Yazoo,
Sun City Girls,
Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu.
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.