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 Copenhagen.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Minny Pops to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Gregory Isaacs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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?
Graham Central Station,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Surgeon,
The Selecter,
Mo-Dettes,
Animal Collective,
ABBA,
Malaria!,
Jeff Lynne,
Chris & Cosey,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Desert Stars,
The Gladiators,
Mission of Burma,
Dennis Brown,
Shuggie Otis,
Parry Music,
Cluster,
Reagan Youth,
Outsiders,
Crispian St. Peters,
One Last Wish,
T. Rex,
Todd Rundgren,
Gang of Four,
Television Personalities,
Kas Product,
Roxette,
Slave,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Byron Stingily,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Pantytec,
David McCallum,
Michelle Simonal,
PIL,
Kayak,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Groovy Waters,
The Barracudas,
Buzzcocks,
Negative Approach,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Yellowson,
Lalo Schifrin,
Skriet,
Ronnie Foster,
Soul II Soul,
Danielle Patucci,
Delta 5,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Moleskins,
Nation of Ulysses,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
June of 44,
Peter and Kerry,
Half Japanese,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Hoover,
Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay.
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.