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 Brunei and from Milan.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Silicon Teens to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Reagan Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Interpol 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Unrelated Segments,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Eve St. Jones,
Juan Atkins,
Funkadelic,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jandek,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Detroit Cobras,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gang Starr,
kango's stein massive,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Half Japanese,
Glenn Branca,
Swans,
KRS-One,
La Düsseldorf,
Make Up,
Sarah Menescal,
Harry Pussy,
Kayak,
Accadde A,
In Retrospect,
MDC,
The Dead C,
Desert Stars,
Procol Harum,
The Moody Blues,
Symarip,
Minny Pops,
The Slits,
Archie Shepp,
Scott Walker,
Bluetip,
Shuggie Otis,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Black Pus,
Electric Prunes,
The Remains,
Agent Orange,
Bush Tetras,
The Blackbyrds,
DJ Sneak,
John Coltrane,
Nas,
Khruangbin,
Danielle Patucci,
Wolf Eyes,
The Gories,
Sugar Minott,
Aaron Thompson,
Television Personalities,
Qualms,
Eric B and Rakim,
Con Funk Shun,
Newcleus,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.