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 Guinea-Bissau and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
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 Dorothy Ashby to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Black Pus. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Isaac Hayes,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ohio Players,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Leonard Cohen,
48th St. Collective,
Faraquet,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Tomorrow,
Wasted Youth,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ralphi Rosario,
Youth Brigade,
The Blues Magoos,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
10cc,
Hashim,
Con Funk Shun,
Jeff Mills,
Anthony Braxton,
Hoover,
The Residents,
Jerry's Kids,
The Names,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wally Richardson,
Sparks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Charles Mingus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jandek,
David Axelrod,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Blackbyrds,
The Barracudas,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Johnny Clarke,
Niagra,
The Moody Blues,
The Dead C,
Circle Jerks,
John Foxx,
Infiniti,
Marshall Jefferson,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Dual Sessions,
Franke,
Massinfluence,
The Invisible,
Chrome,
The Durutti Column,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Swell Maps,
Kerrie Biddell,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Agitation Free,
X-Ray Spex,
Rosa Yemen,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.