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 Nepal and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Brass Construction to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
Blancmange,
The Music Machine,
The Last Poets,
Pantaleimon,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Nick Fraelich,
Arab on Radar,
Glenn Branca,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Angels of Light,
Sarah Menescal,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eve St. Jones,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Eddi Front,
Ultravox,
Joensuu 1685,
Maurizio,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Robert Wyatt,
Donny Hathaway,
The Leaves,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Standells,
Lou Christie,
Tropical Tobacco,
Johnny Clarke,
Stockholm Monsters,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Minnie Riperton,
Tim Buckley,
The Monks,
Idris Muhammad,
Blossom Toes,
The Electric Prunes,
Bobby Sherman,
Dual Sessions,
Flipper,
Soul Sonic Force,
Albert Ayler,
Chris & Cosey,
CMW,
MC5,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
New Order,
The United States of America,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Real Kids,
Khruangbin,
Masters at Work,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Electric Prunes,
Derrick Morgan,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Busters,
Wally Richardson,
Vainqueur,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.