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 Bhutan and from Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Marshall Jefferson to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blossom Toes,
Royal Trux,
Rites of Spring,
Neil Young,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Skarface,
Kaleidoscope,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Altered Images,
Erykah Badu,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Vainqueur,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Flash Fearless,
Black Bananas,
Lyres,
David McCallum,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Charles Mingus,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Vogues,
Adolescents,
Parry Music,
The Dave Clark Five,
the Bar-Kays,
Matthew Bourne,
Ronnie Foster,
Bang On A Can,
Marshall Jefferson,
Supertramp,
Juan Atkins,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mandrill,
Q and Not U,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jeff Lynne,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Oneida,
June of 44,
Stereo Dub,
OOIOO,
Thompson Twins,
Nils Olav,
Nirvana,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Wasted Youth,
Moss Icon,
Isaac Hayes,
The Neon Judgement,
Khruangbin,
Dead Boys,
Lower 48,
Shoche,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Be Bop Deluxe,
DNA,
Little Man,
The New Christs,
Section 25,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Subhumans,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.