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 Luxembourg and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Cybotron to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Surgeon 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Glenn Branca,
Lindisfarne,
Scratch Acid,
Ornette Coleman,
The Blackbyrds,
Gil Scott Heron,
Wasted Youth,
New Age Steppers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lyres,
The Alarm Clocks,
cv313,
Archie Shepp,
Symarip,
Kas Product,
The Gap Band,
Man Eating Sloth,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sun City Girls,
The Litter,
The Monks,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Barry Ungar,
Ultra Naté,
Minny Pops,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Public Enemy,
World's Most,
Crispian St. Peters,
Babytalk,
New York Dolls,
Henry Cow,
Technova,
The Names,
Soft Machine,
Deakin,
Kaleidoscope,
Public Image Ltd.,
Cal Tjader,
The Trojans,
Blossom Toes,
Spandau Ballet,
Joy Division,
Piero Umiliani,
Sight & Sound,
MDC,
Althea and Donna,
Minnie Riperton,
The Invisible,
Rapeman,
Avey Tare,
The Black Dice,
Idris Muhammad,
Duran Duran,
Tubeway Army,
The Gories,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Grass Roots,
Qualms,
Echospace, Echospace, Echospace, Echospace.
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.