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 Kenya and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 The Modern Lovers to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erykah Badu 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gregory Isaacs,
Charles Mingus,
Thee Headcoats,
Peter & Gordon,
Kool Moe Dee,
Nils Olav,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Smiths,
The Fire Engines,
A Certain Ratio,
The Selecter,
KRS-One,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Khruangbin,
Q65,
the Sonics,
Nirvana,
Ohio Players,
Girls At Our Best!,
Wire,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Jeff Lynne,
Alison Limerick,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gang Green,
Donald Byrd,
Pussy Galore,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Guru Guru,
Eric Dolphy,
Kaleidoscope,
David Axelrod,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Con Funk Shun,
Glenn Branca,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Siglo XX,
Brothers Johnson,
Jerry's Kids,
Kas Product,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Marcia Griffiths,
Yaz,
Bob Dylan,
Cecil Taylor,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lalann,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Crooked Eye,
Sound Behaviour,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Count Five,
The Last Poets,
Scientists,
The Music Machine,
Sarah Menescal,
Dual Sessions,
Robert Wyatt,
Traffic Nightmare,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.