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 Haiti and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 K-Klass to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Crash Course in Science. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Joe & The Fish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pylon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
8 Eyed Spy,
Letta Mbulu,
The Smoke,
Vainqueur,
Gastr Del Sol,
Terry Callier,
the Slits,
LL Cool J,
Mark Hollis,
Nick Fraelich,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Move,
Wolf Eyes,
Patti Smith,
Malaria!,
Technova,
Oneida,
Television Personalities,
Eurythmics,
Eddi Front,
Swell Maps,
Skriet,
The Skatalites,
Nik Kershaw,
Fatback Band,
Kas Product,
The Mojo Men,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Walker Brothers,
Kaleidoscope,
The Raincoats,
The Stooges,
Skarface,
Don Cherry,
The Gap Band,
Black Sheep,
Gil Scott Heron,
Hot Snakes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Eve St. Jones,
Interpol,
Theoretical Girls,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Barracudas,
Hasil Adkins,
The Grass Roots,
Girls At Our Best!,
Roger Hodgson,
Zero Boys,
Eric Copeland,
Brass Construction,
Bill Wells,
Andrew Hill,
ABC,
Von Mondo,
Kenny Larkin,
Rufus Thomas,
Average White Band,
Ossler,
The Litter,
The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters.
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.