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 Vanuatu and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Marcia Griffiths to the disco 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 Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Lalo Schifrin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kayak 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 '50s 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 Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Rufus Thomas,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dorothy Ashby,
Organ,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rotary Connection,
Bang On A Can,
Henry Cow,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Technova,
Minnie Riperton,
Slick Rick,
The Golliwogs,
The Dirtbombs,
Yusef Lateef,
Magma,
Harry Pussy,
Glenn Branca,
Bad Manners,
Q and Not U,
Babytalk,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rosa Yemen,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Joey Negro,
The Saints,
Public Enemy,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Cecil Taylor,
Arcadia,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sonic Youth,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Cowsills,
New York Dolls,
Frankie Knuckles,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Bar-Kays,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Detroit Cobras,
T.S.O.L.,
Scientists,
Skaos,
Ralphi Rosario,
June Days,
Young Marble Giants,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Public Image Ltd.,
Big Daddy Kane,
X-102,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Neon Judgement,
Talk Talk,
Gang Green,
Echospace,
Michelle Simonal,
Scan 7,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.