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 Guatemala and from Jakarta.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Wolf Eyes to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angry Samoans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Green,
the Fania All-Stars,
One Last Wish,
Gastr Del Sol,
Simply Red,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Eden Ahbez,
Royal Trux,
PIL,
New York Dolls,
Althea and Donna,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Jandek,
Bluetip,
Al Stewart,
Pantaleimon,
John Lydon,
Radiohead,
Robert Görl,
The Fugs,
Ludus,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sight & Sound,
L. Decosne,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Robert Hood,
Man Parrish,
Arthur Verocai,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Skarface,
Cheater Slicks,
Adolescents,
The Offenders,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Minor Threat,
Niagra,
Ponytail,
Minny Pops,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
La Düsseldorf,
U.S. Maple,
Black Sheep,
The Doobie Brothers,
EPMD,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rod Modell,
R.M.O.,
John Foxx,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Curtis Mayfield,
MC5,
Lungfish,
The Mummies,
Josef K,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Quando Quango,
The Count Five,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.