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 Namibia 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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 oboe 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 Hardrive to the dance 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 D'Angelo. All the underground hits.
All Barry Ungar tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
Warren Ellis,
UT,
Theoretical Girls,
Aloha Tigers,
Mo-Dettes,
Hasil Adkins,
Stiv Bators,
Alphaville,
Nas,
Silicon Teens,
Barclay James Harvest,
Magazine,
Hot Snakes,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Techniques,
Sarah Menescal,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Easy Going,
Andrew Hill,
The Martian,
Dawn Penn,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Gil Scott Heron,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gang Gang Dance,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Idris Muhammad,
Yusef Lateef,
Be Bop Deluxe,
X-102,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Fuzztones,
Cal Tjader,
The Doors,
Television,
Lower 48,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Fluxion,
the Normal,
Wolf Eyes,
Tears for Fears,
Amazonics,
The Pop Group,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Black Pus,
Motorama,
Bob Dylan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Donny Hathaway,
John Lydon,
Leonard Cohen,
Max Romeo,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sonny Sharrock,
Dead Boys,
Camouflage,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.