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 Suriname and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Smoke to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Malaria!. All the underground hits.
All London Community Gospel Choir tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erykah Badu 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter & Gordon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Slits,
Robert Wyatt,
Loose Ends,
The Cure,
Mantronix,
Hoover,
John Coltrane,
Harmonia,
Freddie Wadling,
Eric Copeland,
DJ Style,
Smog,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Dark Day,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
John Holt,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Associates,
Jandek,
Sister Nancy,
Porter Ricks,
Lightning Bolt,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
cv313,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Darondo,
The Zeros,
Fatback Band,
Barry Ungar,
Cluster,
The Wake,
Scan 7,
The Smiths,
Glenn Branca,
Rekid,
The Blackbyrds,
Godley & Creme,
Be Bop Deluxe,
10cc,
The Fire Engines,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Youth Brigade,
David Axelrod,
The Fortunes,
Andrew Hill,
Niagra,
Depeche Mode,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Make Up,
The Sonics,
DJ Sneak,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Arthur Verocai,
Connie Case,
The Martian,
Donald Byrd,
Sugar Minott,
Panda Bear,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.