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 Nauru and from Bremen.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Unrelated Segments to the grime 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Goldenarms,
Reuben Wilson,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Dead C,
R.M.O.,
X-102,
Sun Ra,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Velvet Underground,
The Knickerbockers,
Soft Cell,
JFA,
Pulsallama,
The Smoke,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
KRS-One,
Circle Jerks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Moleskins,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ice-T,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultravox,
Sparks,
CMW,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rotary Connection,
Faust,
Lyres,
Lower 48,
The Last Poets,
Yusef Lateef,
Camberwell Now,
The Victims,
Dennis Brown,
John Foxx,
Mo-Dettes,
Sam Rivers,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Kurtis Blow,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Chris Corsano,
Accadde A,
The Searchers,
Brass Construction,
Black Bananas,
Agent Orange,
DNA,
The Fortunes,
Anthony Braxton,
Icehouse,
Tomorrow,
Pere Ubu,
Jesper Dahlback,
Nas,
Siglo XX,
New Age Steppers,
Tom Boy,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.