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 Denmark and from Toronto.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Harmonia to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All DNA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every This Heat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Albert Ayler,
Derrick May,
Minny Pops,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soul Sonic Force,
the Normal,
Ossler,
The Star Department,
Cymande,
Chris Corsano,
The Toasters,
David Axelrod,
The Angels of Light,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Grass Roots,
The Velvet Underground,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Terrestrial Tones,
Zero Boys,
Josef K,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Jacques Brel,
Franke,
Loose Ends,
Maurizio,
Al Stewart,
Parry Music,
a-ha,
Bobby Womack,
Funky Four + One,
Henry Cow,
Slick Rick,
Sound Behaviour,
Ken Boothe,
Gang of Four,
Sun City Girls,
Pole,
Fear,
World's Most,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Crooked Eye,
Make Up,
Eve St. Jones,
Fela Kuti,
Funkadelic,
Aural Exciters,
Grauzone,
Adolescents,
Amon Düül II,
Metal Thangz,
Easy Going,
Barry Ungar,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Moody Blues,
F. McDonald,
The Dave Clark Five,
Nirvana,
Black Flag,
Delta 5,
Sonny Sharrock,
Robert Görl,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas.
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.