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 Paraguay and from Milan.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 L. Decosne to the grunge 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 U.S. Maple. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Litter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Theoretical Girls,
Connie Case,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Essential Logic,
Black Moon,
Roy Ayers,
Dead Boys,
The Five Americans,
Sam Rivers,
Prince Buster,
The Happenings,
Andrew Hill,
Sparks,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rotary Connection,
Pantaleimon,
The Blues Magoos,
Josef K,
Arab on Radar,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mantronix,
Pantytec,
Alice Coltrane,
KRS-One,
Donny Hathaway,
Davy DMX,
Roxy Music,
Brothers Johnson,
Scan 7,
The Sound,
Brick,
Nik Kershaw,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sound Behaviour,
Guru Guru,
Eli Mardock,
The Dave Clark Five,
June Days,
Lindisfarne,
The Modern Lovers,
Livin' Joy,
Bush Tetras,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Cowsills,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Moleskins,
Yellowson,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Count Five,
Deepchord,
Eurythmics,
Matthew Bourne,
Marvin Gaye,
Darondo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Avey Tare,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.