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 Panama and from Seoul.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the 808 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 Swell Maps to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang On A Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Moody Blues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lower 48,
Anthony Braxton,
The Moody Blues,
The Litter,
ABC,
Bad Manners,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Nico,
Man Eating Sloth,
A Certain Ratio,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Rufus Thomas,
Sam Rivers,
The Golliwogs,
Rotary Connection,
New York Dolls,
Spoonie Gee,
the Swans,
Quadrant,
Black Bananas,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Crispian St. Peters,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Aloha Tigers,
The Pop Group,
Lightning Bolt,
Boogie Down Productions,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Niagra,
The Misunderstood,
Roy Ayers,
Junior Murvin,
Susan Cadogan,
The Kinks,
Gang of Four,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Monks,
Underground Resistance,
The Mojo Men,
Buzzcocks,
Symarip,
Wally Richardson,
Yellowson,
the Human League,
Mandrill,
Big Daddy Kane,
Can,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Barracudas,
Piero Umiliani,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lalann,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Gories,
X-Ray Spex,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sun City Girls,
Flash Fearless,
Curtis Mayfield,
Throbbing Gristle,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.