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 Ivory Coast and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lagos.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Bill Wells to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 David Bowie. All the underground hits.
All Organ tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joensuu 1685 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
Saccharine Trust,
The Residents,
FM Einheit,
Slick Rick,
Throbbing Gristle,
Deepchord,
T. Rex,
Arab on Radar,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lightning Bolt,
Dave Gahan,
Erasure,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
D'Angelo,
Second Layer,
F. McDonald,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kenny Larkin,
Niagra,
Quadrant,
The Associates,
The Gap Band,
Kerrie Biddell,
In Retrospect,
Grauzone,
Joensuu 1685,
Infiniti,
John Lydon,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
UT,
Eddi Front,
Jeff Lynne,
Aswad,
Massinfluence,
The Divine Comedy,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Happenings,
Fifty Foot Hose,
DNA,
Rod Modell,
Eli Mardock,
The Leaves,
Albert Ayler,
One Last Wish,
The Buckinghams,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rosa Yemen,
Mission of Burma,
Brothers Johnson,
Dead Boys,
Idris Muhammad,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
H. Thieme,
Echospace,
Pere Ubu,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
MC5,
Symarip,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.