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 Namibia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 mellotron 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 Swell Maps to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All Michelle Simonal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oneida record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Angry Samoans,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ornette Coleman,
Tom Boy,
The Dead C,
Mary Jane Girls,
Robert Görl,
Moby Grape,
Audionom,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Barracudas,
Erasure,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Normal,
JFA,
Marc Almond,
The American Breed,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pantaleimon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Misunderstood,
Kenny Larkin,
Q and Not U,
Archie Shepp,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ituana,
Sound Behaviour,
Average White Band,
Darondo,
Mission of Burma,
Donald Byrd,
Ronan,
Massinfluence,
The Doobie Brothers,
Joensuu 1685,
The Blackbyrds,
Kerri Chandler,
The Velvet Underground,
Sparks,
Fugazi,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Alice Coltrane,
The Smiths,
Kurtis Blow,
kango's stein massive,
James White and The Blacks,
The Human League,
The Wake,
Alison Limerick,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Skarface,
Reuben Wilson,
Anthony Braxton,
Hasil Adkins,
The Victims,
L. Decosne,
Minny Pops,
Depeche Mode,
Freddie Wadling,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.