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 Rwanda and from Edmonton.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Reagan Youth to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Boz Scaggs. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zero Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kenny Larkin,
Ossler,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Outsiders,
John Coltrane,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Boogie Down Productions,
New York Dolls,
Simply Red,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Shuggie Otis,
Fat Boys,
Hashim,
Magazine,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ronnie Foster,
Lakeside,
Boz Scaggs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Au Pairs,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Fall,
Kevin Saunderson,
Eric Copeland,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Harmonia,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Fire Engines,
Don Cherry,
The Shadows of Knight,
DNA,
Q65,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sister Nancy,
Oblivians,
The Misunderstood,
Das Ding,
The Pretty Things,
Dennis Brown,
The Gun Club,
Henry Cow,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lyres,
Pussy Galore,
Erykah Badu,
Mad Mike,
Terry Callier,
Agitation Free,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bobby Sherman,
Tubeway Army,
Tomorrow,
The Fortunes,
Visage,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Blackbyrds,
Deadbeat,
Harry Pussy,
Gastr Del Sol,
Lou Reed,
Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim.
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.