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 Malaysia and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 Paris and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Gichy Dan to the rap 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harmonia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Fire Engines,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ice-T,
Q65,
Wings,
Scan 7,
Cecil Taylor,
Khruangbin,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Thompson Twins,
Agent Orange,
John Coltrane,
The Slits,
Harmonia,
Funky Four + One,
Adolescents,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Saccharine Trust,
Talk Talk,
Eric Copeland,
Qualms,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Funkadelic,
The Durutti Column,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Seeds,
Von Mondo,
Eric B and Rakim,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Saints,
Masters at Work,
Tropical Tobacco,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Whodini,
The Invisible,
Scion,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Agitation Free,
Ultimate Spinach,
KRS-One,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Althea and Donna,
Gang Gang Dance,
Radiohead,
Eve St. Jones,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ituana,
Swell Maps,
Au Pairs,
Mantronix,
Alice Coltrane,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Camberwell Now,
Lucky Dragons,
The Raincoats,
Ash Ra Tempel,
This Heat,
The Gories,
Sight & Sound,
New Order,
Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee, Kool Moe Dee.
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.