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 Mozambique and from Johannesburg.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Sao Paulo.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Gastr Del Sol to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All The Busters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funkadelic,
The Monks,
Soft Cell,
Tommy Roe,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Unwound,
Barbara Tucker,
Qualms,
Radiohead,
Arthur Verocai,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Wire,
Anakelly,
Massinfluence,
James White and The Blacks,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Fugazi,
Crime,
Clear Light,
Bad Manners,
Pierre Henry,
Pulsallama,
Hot Snakes,
Terry Callier,
Lungfish,
Kenny Larkin,
X-102,
Harmonia,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Byron Stingily,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Warren Ellis,
Gong,
Bob Dylan,
The Stooges,
DNA,
Faraquet,
Banda Bassotti,
T.S.O.L.,
Janne Schatter,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
June Days,
EPMD,
Supertramp,
The Fire Engines,
The Litter,
Pere Ubu,
Ornette Coleman,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Black Dice,
R.M.O.,
Aural Exciters,
Freddie Wadling,
Mark Hollis,
Drive Like Jehu,
Arcadia,
John Holt,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Wings,
Arab on Radar,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.