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 Lithuania and from Lyon.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Infiniti to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Scion. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
The Pop Group,
the Human League,
Fela Kuti,
Procol Harum,
Bill Wells,
The Standells,
PIL,
John Lydon,
DJ Sneak,
Subhumans,
Avey Tare,
ABC,
The Invisible,
Model 500,
Lyres,
Grauzone,
The Searchers,
Rekid,
Harpers Bizarre,
Outsiders,
The Mojo Men,
Siglo XX,
Buzzcocks,
Little Man,
Robert Wyatt,
Kayak,
Terrestrial Tones,
Black Bananas,
Aloha Tigers,
The Five Americans,
Boz Scaggs,
Ludus,
Joe Smooth,
The Black Dice,
Chris Corsano,
Yaz,
Banda Bassotti,
Big Daddy Kane,
Motorama,
Joyce Sims,
Ultimate Spinach,
Reuben Wilson,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Althea and Donna,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Happenings,
Arcadia,
Crime,
Los Fastidios,
Barry Ungar,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Soft Machine,
Minutemen,
Marshall Jefferson,
Funkadelic,
The Gap Band,
Soulsonic Force,
Malaria!,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.