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 Haiti and from Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 synthesizer 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 Warsaw to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Silicon Teens 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 '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 Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
June Days,
Brothers Johnson,
The Happenings,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Howard Jones,
Roy Ayers,
Piero Umiliani,
Nik Kershaw,
Infiniti,
Warren Ellis,
Flamin' Groovies,
Nils Olav,
David McCallum,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Mary Jane Girls,
DJ Style,
Matthew Bourne,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Association,
Pole,
Average White Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sandy B,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Swans,
Crooked Eye,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Brand Nubian,
Mo-Dettes,
Los Fastidios,
Gabor Szabo,
Marvin Gaye,
Gong,
The New Christs,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ponytail,
Can,
Judy Mowatt,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Seeds,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
E-Dancer,
Harpers Bizarre,
Youth Brigade,
Gichy Dan,
The Fugs,
Urselle,
Thee Headcoats,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
This Heat,
Sun City Girls,
Surgeon,
Freddie Wadling,
Brick,
Eric Copeland,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.