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 Chad and from Spokane.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Chris & Cosey to the techno 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 Joey Negro. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Audionom record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Enemy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lindisfarne,
Archie Shepp,
A Certain Ratio,
Donald Byrd,
Quadrant,
Qualms,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bluetip,
Nils Olav,
Neil Young,
Loose Ends,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Fall,
MC5,
Skaos,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Royal Trux,
Gong,
Fela Kuti,
Saccharine Trust,
The Divine Comedy,
Mr. Review,
The Five Americans,
Byron Stingily,
Tim Buckley,
Amazonics,
Gil Scott Heron,
John Lydon,
The Offenders,
Technova,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Marvin Gaye,
Bang On A Can,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Hardrive,
Black Sheep,
Cluster,
Barbara Tucker,
Little Man,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Eric Dolphy,
Marine Girls,
Donny Hathaway,
The Sound,
Faraquet,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Massinfluence,
Kool Moe Dee,
The J.B.'s,
Dawn Penn,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Television,
Zero Boys,
Black Pus,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Iggy Pop,
Reagan Youth,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.