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 Poland and from Tokyo.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Public Image Ltd. to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 a-ha. All the underground hits.
All Sandy B tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heaven 17 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Y Pants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sam Rivers,
Agent Orange,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pantaleimon,
T.S.O.L.,
Warren Ellis,
UT,
Sun City Girls,
Rod Modell,
The Young Rascals,
The Sonics,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kurtis Blow,
Kevin Saunderson,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lou Reed,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Sound,
Robert Wyatt,
Brass Construction,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobby Womack,
Mandrill,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Shoche,
D'Angelo,
Pylon,
James White and The Blacks,
Vladislav Delay,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Marine Girls,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Arcadia,
Mad Mike,
Siglo XX,
Half Japanese,
Pharoah Sanders,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Smiths,
Letta Mbulu,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Yellowson,
The Red Krayola,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Fela Kuti,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Eyeless In Gaza,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ituana,
Terry Callier,
Pet Shop Boys,
Alton Ellis,
Urselle,
Jawbox,
Cameo,
Donald Byrd,
Crooked Eye,
Lee Hazlewood,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.