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 Kuwait 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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Sight & Sound to the dance 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 The Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All Harpers Bizarre tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Lynne 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Depeche Mode record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Whodini,
Ludus,
Henry Cow,
Roy Ayers,
Dorothy Ashby,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Isaac Hayes,
Pere Ubu,
cv313,
Gil Scott Heron,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Peter & Gordon,
Marine Girls,
X-102,
Pagans,
Chrome,
Letta Mbulu,
Excepter,
Can,
Boz Scaggs,
Urselle,
Swans,
The Cramps,
Ronan,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Goldenarms,
Graham Central Station,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Soft Cell,
Blake Baxter,
Ralphi Rosario,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Infiniti,
Von Mondo,
Archie Shepp,
Audionom,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Drive Like Jehu,
Procol Harum,
The Count Five,
The New Christs,
The Associates,
Cecil Taylor,
Nico,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Mr. Review,
The Names,
Q65,
Crooked Eye,
Second Layer,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Circle Jerks,
The Standells,
Gang Starr,
Scion,
Kaleidoscope,
Interpol,
Ultra Naté,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.