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 Mauritania and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Popol Vuh to the grime 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 Joy Division. All the underground hits.
All Negative Approach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlbäck record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Don Cherry,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The United States of America,
These Immortal Souls,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
F. McDonald,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Sonics,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Star Department,
the Swans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Albert Ayler,
Kaleidoscope,
Flash Fearless,
The Saints,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Dave Clark Five,
Traffic Nightmare,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Mission of Burma,
Echospace,
a-ha,
Eric Copeland,
Banda Bassotti,
The Wake,
X-Ray Spex,
Tim Buckley,
Idris Muhammad,
KRS-One,
Lee Hazlewood,
Los Fastidios,
The Motions,
Boredoms,
Ultravox,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Soul II Soul,
Roy Ayers,
Underground Resistance,
Subhumans,
Talk Talk,
Liliput,
Joy Division,
Nik Kershaw,
Connie Case,
In Retrospect,
Bobby Womack,
Robert Görl,
Ossler,
The Zeros,
Henry Cow,
Tubeway Army,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Prince Buster,
Scientists,
Whodini,
T.S.O.L.,
The Move,
Slick Rick,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.