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 Guinea 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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Byron Stingily to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper 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?
Prince Buster,
Derrick May,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Joe Smooth,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Davy DMX,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bobby Sherman,
Wire,
L. Decosne,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Hardrive,
Cal Tjader,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
R.M.O.,
Electric Prunes,
Eurythmics,
Scrapy,
Jeff Mills,
The Invisible,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kenny Larkin,
Young Marble Giants,
Ultimate Spinach,
Agent Orange,
Pylon,
Hashim,
Chris & Cosey,
Thompson Twins,
Deepchord,
Lebanon Hanover,
Echospace,
DNA,
Matthew Bourne,
Warsaw,
the Slits,
Ten City,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rapeman,
Albert Ayler,
The United States of America,
The American Breed,
Slick Rick,
Depeche Mode,
Black Moon,
Tomorrow,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Tremeloes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Inner City,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Fall,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Cramps,
Soft Machine,
Supertramp,
Marcia Griffiths,
Max Romeo,
Easy Going,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.