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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Woodstock.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Shanghai.
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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Crash Course in Science to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All The Misunderstood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a EPMD record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Selecter,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Last Poets,
Girls At Our Best!,
Organ,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Minor Threat,
Brass Construction,
Quantec,
Eric Copeland,
The Martian,
New Age Steppers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Parry Music,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Groovy Waters,
Average White Band,
Blossom Toes,
Section 25,
The Fuzztones,
Young Marble Giants,
Bang On A Can,
Skriet,
Tres Demented,
Donny Hathaway,
Unwound,
Gregory Isaacs,
Mad Mike,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Susan Cadogan,
Kayak,
Ituana,
Scratch Acid,
Animal Collective,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Hot Snakes,
The Mojo Men,
Second Layer,
Darondo,
Boogie Down Productions,
Au Pairs,
Tim Buckley,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Robert Görl,
The United States of America,
Brick,
Davy DMX,
Harmonia,
The Gladiators,
Sixth Finger,
Joe Finger,
Gichy Dan,
Vainqueur,
Warsaw,
Ken Boothe,
The Count Five,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.