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 Libya and from Portland.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Radio Birdman to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Smog. All the underground hits.
All Kayak 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Brass Construction,
Isaac Hayes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Soul II Soul,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kerri Chandler,
Suicide,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Basic Channel,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Flipper,
Rod Modell,
Black Bananas,
The Cure,
One Last Wish,
Mo-Dettes,
Simply Red,
Crispian St. Peters,
Quantec,
Nirvana,
Piero Umiliani,
Royal Trux,
ABBA,
Bill Near,
The Grass Roots,
Don Cherry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Neon Judgement,
D'Angelo,
Swans,
Lungfish,
Khruangbin,
Barbara Tucker,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Blake Baxter,
Johnny Clarke,
The Fire Engines,
Amon Düül II,
Nas,
The Kinks,
Desert Stars,
Ralphi Rosario,
Brothers Johnson,
Gang Green,
JFA,
Interpol,
OOIOO,
Barry Ungar,
Erykah Badu,
Laurel Aitken,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lower 48,
Shuggie Otis,
DJ Style,
Blancmange,
Gang Gang Dance,
Connie Case,
AZ,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.