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 Kyrgyzstan and from Copenhagen.
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 Accra and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Davy DMX to the techno 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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All Ohio Players tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Mills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Victims,
Public Enemy,
Shoche,
Gil Scott Heron,
Blake Baxter,
The Zeros,
Sound Behaviour,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nick Fraelich,
The Walker Brothers,
The Smiths,
Slave,
The Fire Engines,
Trumans Water,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Saints,
Bob Dylan,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Birthday Party,
Metal Thangz,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wally Richardson,
Scott Walker,
Sonic Youth,
Boz Scaggs,
Peter and Kerry,
Sarah Menescal,
Sam Rivers,
Chris Corsano,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Toasters,
Wolf Eyes,
The Mojo Men,
R.M.O.,
Radio Birdman,
Robert Hood,
Gabor Szabo,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eddi Front,
Crime,
Altered Images,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Zapp,
Smog,
Royal Trux,
Skarface,
Bush Tetras,
Youth Brigade,
The Kinks,
Lou Reed,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Glambeats Corp.,
Darondo,
Sister Nancy,
John Cale,
The Monochrome Set,
Toni Rubio,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Leonard Cohen,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The American Breed,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.