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 Ukraine and from Philadelphia.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Litter to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moleskins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Goldenarms,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Arab on Radar,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Black Sheep,
The Flesh Eaters,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sarah Menescal,
The New Christs,
The Star Department,
Freddie Wadling,
Reagan Youth,
10cc,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sight & Sound,
Mission of Burma,
Max Romeo,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
One Last Wish,
Lebanon Hanover,
Con Funk Shun,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Smoke,
Arcadia,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Toasters,
Slick Rick,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yazoo,
Joey Negro,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Busters,
EPMD,
Tom Boy,
Chris Corsano,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bobby Womack,
Gabor Szabo,
Eric Dolphy,
Procol Harum,
Matthew Bourne,
Mark Hollis,
Johnny Osbourne,
Leonard Cohen,
Iggy Pop,
Intrusion,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Aloha Tigers,
The Real Kids,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Dawn Penn,
Glenn Branca,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.