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 Costa Rica and from Woodstock.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Rakim to the techno 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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All New Age Steppers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
John Coltrane,
Scratch Acid,
Whodini,
DJ Style,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sparks,
Blossom Toes,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Q65,
The Stooges,
Gang of Four,
Panda Bear,
Franke,
Au Pairs,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bobby Sherman,
Television,
Banda Bassotti,
Sarah Menescal,
The Grass Roots,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Neil Young,
Monolake,
World's Most,
Al Stewart,
Qualms,
Warren Ellis,
The Young Rascals,
Black Bananas,
A Certain Ratio,
the Slits,
Agitation Free,
The Smiths,
Bauhaus,
Tomorrow,
Ossler,
In Retrospect,
Drive Like Jehu,
Alison Limerick,
Pantaleimon,
The Litter,
Can,
Slave,
D'Angelo,
Peter and Kerry,
Sixth Finger,
Judy Mowatt,
Easy Going,
The Red Krayola,
Kerri Chandler,
Chrome,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Gun Club,
Technova,
Boredoms,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bang On A Can,
F. McDonald,
Lower 48,
Dorothy Ashby,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Searchers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
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.