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 Japan and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 New Age Steppers to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All DNA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Lou Reed,
Vainqueur,
Nils Olav,
Sam Rivers,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Porter Ricks,
The Walker Brothers,
Stetsasonic,
X-Ray Spex,
Radio Birdman,
Procol Harum,
Swell Maps,
Sonic Youth,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Slackers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Slave,
Dark Day,
Deakin,
The American Breed,
Visage,
Bush Tetras,
The Happenings,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gregory Isaacs,
Heaven 17,
Barbara Tucker,
Underground Resistance,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Niagra,
Kool Moe Dee,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Scott Walker,
Cybotron,
The Smoke,
Idris Muhammad,
Brothers Johnson,
H. Thieme,
The Raincoats,
Donny Hathaway,
Theoretical Girls,
UT,
Newcleus,
Nick Fraelich,
Sarah Menescal,
The Pretty Things,
Sällskapet,
The Music Machine,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Davy DMX,
Kevin Saunderson,
Lalann,
Gang of Four,
Moebius,
MC5,
Suicide,
Junior Murvin,
Symarip,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.