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 Djibouti and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Amazonics 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 Mantronix. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gichy Dan 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Unwound,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Blackbyrds,
T.S.O.L.,
Eric Dolphy,
Bad Manners,
Malaria!,
Rekid,
Sarah Menescal,
Scion,
The Star Department,
Radiopuhelimet,
10cc,
Slick Rick,
The Gories,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Youth Brigade,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Radiohead,
Jawbox,
Liliput,
The Fortunes,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Lydon,
The Slackers,
John Cale,
Talk Talk,
The Leaves,
Joy Division,
JFA,
Thee Headcoats,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Royal Trux,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
June of 44,
Boogie Down Productions,
Faraquet,
Black Sheep,
The Dead C,
Sixth Finger,
Los Fastidios,
Neu!,
Alison Limerick,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Trojans,
The Last Poets,
L. Decosne,
Sonny Sharrock,
Mars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Black Moon,
Harry Pussy,
Joe Smooth,
Mo-Dettes,
LL Cool J,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
cv313,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Adolescents,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.