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 Accra.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 X-102 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Lower 48 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques 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 a rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Porter Ricks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gregory Isaacs,
X-Ray Spex,
Mark Hollis,
Michelle Simonal,
Grey Daturas,
Grandmaster Flash,
Television,
Ohio Players,
The Cramps,
The Happenings,
Bush Tetras,
Slave,
Pussy Galore,
Pantytec,
The J.B.'s,
Crooked Eye,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Raincoats,
Heaven 17,
Babytalk,
Eddi Front,
The Red Krayola,
The Zeros,
Josef K,
Rotary Connection,
Khruangbin,
Lower 48,
Soul II Soul,
Easy Going,
H. Thieme,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
New York Dolls,
the Normal,
Silicon Teens,
The Real Kids,
Eli Mardock,
June Days,
The Dead C,
Junior Murvin,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Camouflage,
Mantronix,
Chrome,
Franke,
Pulsallama,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Nico,
Radiopuhelimet,
Johnny Osbourne,
Roy Ayers,
Fela Kuti,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Rites of Spring,
Brick,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.