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 Rwanda and from Sao Paulo.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Motorama to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Joensuu 1685,
Leonard Cohen,
Man Eating Sloth,
Unwound,
David Axelrod,
Judy Mowatt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Scrapy,
Soft Cell,
James White and The Blacks,
Pantaleimon,
Parry Music,
Matthew Bourne,
Hasil Adkins,
Ornette Coleman,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Gap Band,
Rod Modell,
Maleditus Sound,
A Certain Ratio,
Dual Sessions,
Thee Headcoats,
Derrick Morgan,
Erasure,
The Flesh Eaters,
Mark Hollis,
Sam Rivers,
Derrick May,
8 Eyed Spy,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Terry Callier,
Crispy Ambulance,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gil Scott Heron,
Brass Construction,
Jandek,
Suburban Knight,
Zapp,
Los Fastidios,
The Invisible,
Glenn Branca,
Liliput,
Lindisfarne,
Underground Resistance,
The Angels of Light,
Quantec,
Hardrive,
Reagan Youth,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Brothers Johnson,
CMW,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Dave Clark Five,
Cecil Taylor,
Qualms,
Arthur Verocai,
Ultra Naté,
Shuggie Otis,
Kurtis Blow,
China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis.
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.