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 Azerbaijan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Michael McDonald 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 Gang Gang Dance to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Skaos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Byron Stingily record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Grass Roots,
DNA,
Depeche Mode,
The Cramps,
Alton Ellis,
Von Mondo,
Lower 48,
Flipper,
The Red Krayola,
Tom Boy,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Cecil Taylor,
Trumans Water,
Angry Samoans,
Zapp,
Excepter,
Roy Ayers,
Joy Division,
the Normal,
The American Breed,
The Fall,
New Order,
Boz Scaggs,
Motorama,
Frankie Knuckles,
Nation of Ulysses,
Minnie Riperton,
Chris Corsano,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Velvet Underground,
D'Angelo,
The Names,
Johnny Osbourne,
Marmalade,
The Smoke,
Tears for Fears,
Cheater Slicks,
Grauzone,
Jeff Mills,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Al Stewart,
Public Enemy,
Fluxion,
Eric Dolphy,
Pierre Henry,
Lebanon Hanover,
James White and The Blacks,
Davy DMX,
The Gories,
Skarface,
The Selecter,
Liliput,
New York Dolls,
Lalann,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lou Christie,
E-Dancer,
In Retrospect,
Black Flag,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.