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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Japan to the electroclash 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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All The Cowsills tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Danielle Patucci record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Mantronix,
Carl Craig,
Joey Negro,
DJ Sneak,
Don Cherry,
Jerry's Kids,
Qualms,
Rekid,
The Grass Roots,
Eric Copeland,
Marshall Jefferson,
Funkadelic,
Wings,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Robert Wyatt,
Blancmange,
New York Dolls,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Scion,
Freddie Wadling,
Drexciya,
Schoolly D,
The Human League,
Jandek,
Tubeway Army,
Soul Sonic Force,
Dual Sessions,
Slick Rick,
Frankie Knuckles,
Flipper,
The Sound,
Letta Mbulu,
Cameo,
PIL,
Motorama,
The Blues Magoos,
Thompson Twins,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Interpol,
Eve St. Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ralphi Rosario,
F. McDonald,
Animal Collective,
Bluetip,
Television,
Glambeats Corp.,
Supertramp,
Soft Cell,
Colin Newman,
Ice-T,
Stetsasonic,
Scott Walker,
The Dirtbombs,
Easy Going,
Dark Day,
David Axelrod,
JFA,
Kaleidoscope,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.