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 Guatemala and from Mumbai.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin 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 R.M.O. to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bauhaus. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Osbourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yellowson,
Peter and Kerry,
Tubeway Army,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Black Pus,
Moebius,
Rhythm & Sound,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Judy Mowatt,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ten City,
Kerri Chandler,
Funkadelic,
Bob Dylan,
The Smoke,
Davy DMX,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jerry's Kids,
Jesper Dahlback,
Colin Newman,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Smiths,
Eurythmics,
Mad Mike,
Jimmy McGriff,
Erasure,
Lindisfarne,
Mark Hollis,
The Star Department,
Erykah Badu,
David Axelrod,
Main Source,
Animal Collective,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Negative Approach,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Japan,
Roxy Music,
Bill Near,
Khruangbin,
Gichy Dan,
The Cramps,
OOIOO,
Flipper,
Rekid,
New Order,
The Slits,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
10cc,
Stetsasonic,
Camberwell Now,
Nirvana,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Franke,
Warren Ellis,
The Monochrome Set,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scratch Acid,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.