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 Colombia and from Copenhagen.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Golliwogs to the crunk 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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dennis Brown record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Basic Channel,
Liliput,
The Offenders,
Quantec,
Soulsonic Force,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Zeros,
Black Sheep,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fluxion,
Soft Machine,
UT,
The Fugs,
Roxy Music,
Boogie Down Productions,
Adolescents,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Eden Ahbez,
Monks,
David Bowie,
Mark Hollis,
Morten Harket,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Velvet Underground,
Soul II Soul,
Gong,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Dennis Brown,
Roger Hodgson,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Magazine,
K-Klass,
Hasil Adkins,
Brass Construction,
Camouflage,
Brand Nubian,
Janne Schatter,
Warren Ellis,
The Count Five,
Godley & Creme,
The Electric Prunes,
Girls At Our Best!,
Roxette,
Erykah Badu,
Patti Smith,
Lower 48,
Alphaville,
Bang On A Can,
The Martian,
Prince Buster,
The Doors,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Urselle,
The Knickerbockers,
Technova,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.