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 Guinea and from Halifax.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Donald Fagen 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 Gil Scott Heron to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Marmalade. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Remains,
Rod Modell,
Von Mondo,
Hashim,
Fat Boys,
JFA,
Y Pants,
The Angels of Light,
The Doobie Brothers,
La Düsseldorf,
Terrestrial Tones,
Jimmy McGriff,
Kayak,
The Techniques,
June of 44,
Inner City,
Black Moon,
The Cowsills,
Avey Tare,
The Fortunes,
Eric Dolphy,
Metal Thangz,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Golliwogs,
Severed Heads,
Amon Düül II,
Thompson Twins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Searchers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Moebius,
Intrusion,
Monolake,
The Evens,
Tommy Roe,
The Music Machine,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Joyce Sims,
Idris Muhammad,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Public Enemy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
48th St. Collective,
Ossler,
The Gories,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Flesh Eaters,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
DJ Sneak,
Bush Tetras,
Blossom Toes,
The Gladiators,
Cecil Taylor,
Piero Umiliani,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Motions,
Unrelated Segments,
Talk Talk,
The Alarm Clocks,
Quando Quango,
Fugazi,
Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance.
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.