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 New Zealand and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin 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 Roy Ayers to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Remains. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Soft Machine,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Wasted Youth,
Man Eating Sloth,
Janne Schatter,
The Moody Blues,
Steve Hackett,
Crash Course in Science,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Cal Tjader,
Wolf Eyes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Skarface,
Agent Orange,
Glenn Branca,
The Techniques,
Sällskapet,
Lou Christie,
Terry Callier,
The Vogues,
The Smiths,
The American Breed,
The Residents,
48th St. Collective,
The Gories,
Siglo XX,
Shuggie Otis,
The Flesh Eaters,
Eden Ahbez,
The Durutti Column,
Colin Newman,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lee Hazlewood,
Mad Mike,
Pierre Henry,
Minor Threat,
Magazine,
Masters at Work,
June of 44,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Mary Jane Girls,
Roger Hodgson,
The Golliwogs,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Remains,
Kenny Larkin,
Animal Collective,
Dennis Brown,
Dave Gahan,
The United States of America,
The Associates,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Warsaw,
Half Japanese,
The Standells,
Toni Rubio,
Eric Dolphy,
Faraquet,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.