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 Mali and from Calgary.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Delhi.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba 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 Alice Coltrane to the techno 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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All The Mojo Men tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Khruangbin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Accadde A,
Lakeside,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Birthday Party,
Guru Guru,
Susan Cadogan,
Alphaville,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Names,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Agent Orange,
Andrew Hill,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Metal Thangz,
Excepter,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Faust,
Fad Gadget,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kevin Saunderson,
Babytalk,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Half Japanese,
T.S.O.L.,
Yaz,
The Divine Comedy,
Althea and Donna,
The Cowsills,
Angry Samoans,
Soft Cell,
The Count Five,
Radio Birdman,
Chris Corsano,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Searchers,
OOIOO,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
CMW,
The Kinks,
KRS-One,
The Fugs,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Organ,
the Swans,
Alison Limerick,
Pharoah Sanders,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kurtis Blow,
Jandek,
Dual Sessions,
Quando Quango,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Harpers Bizarre,
Slave,
The Beau Brummels,
Chris & Cosey,
B.T. Express,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog.
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.