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 Thailand 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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the 808 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 LL Cool J to the punk 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Accadde A tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wally Richardson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crime,
The Litter,
Eric Dolphy,
Amon Düül,
Zero Boys,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lalann,
Donald Byrd,
Robert Görl,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Tim Buckley,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Chris Corsano,
Sixth Finger,
Lebanon Hanover,
E-Dancer,
The Knickerbockers,
Aaron Thompson,
Davy DMX,
Sound Behaviour,
Country Teasers,
Newcleus,
Ronnie Foster,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
EPMD,
Mission of Burma,
The Velvet Underground,
Don Cherry,
Lou Christie,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Absolute Body Control,
Warsaw,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Josef K,
The Doobie Brothers,
Warren Ellis,
Loose Ends,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Y Pants,
New Age Steppers,
Swell Maps,
The Motions,
Nick Fraelich,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The United States of America,
Terrestrial Tones,
Camberwell Now,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Soft Machine,
Rhythm & Sound,
Angry Samoans,
This Heat,
The Cure,
The Monochrome Set,
Half Japanese,
Thompson Twins,
Eric Copeland,
Infiniti,
Intrusion,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.