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 Dominican Republic and from Shanghai.
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 Portland and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bizarre Inc. to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Star Department. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oppenheimer Analysis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeru the Damaja,
The Young Rascals,
Wolf Eyes,
Soulsonic Force,
Amon Düül II,
Bobby Sherman,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Fortunes,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Organ,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rufus Thomas,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Public Enemy,
Scion,
Lower 48,
Derrick May,
Urselle,
Warren Ellis,
Y Pants,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Walker Brothers,
The Last Poets,
Vladislav Delay,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Isaac Hayes,
Maurizio,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pylon,
John Holt,
Ludus,
The Fugs,
One Last Wish,
Sparks,
Minutemen,
Trumans Water,
Robert Hood,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Stiv Bators,
Swans,
Make Up,
Siglo XX,
Thee Headcoats,
Theoretical Girls,
Stereo Dub,
The Moody Blues,
The Remains,
L. Decosne,
Gong,
Public Image Ltd.,
10cc,
Crime,
The Stooges,
Darondo,
The Zeros,
Andrew Hill,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sight & Sound,
Boogie Down Productions,
Black Moon,
Nico,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ornette Coleman,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.