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 Sierra Leone 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Gang Gang Dance to the crunk 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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Mr. Review,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lindisfarne,
Cymande,
Sun City Girls,
Fat Boys,
Scientists,
Byron Stingily,
The Fortunes,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jeff Lynne,
Marshall Jefferson,
David Bowie,
Mandrill,
Drexciya,
Jawbox,
Sight & Sound,
Connie Case,
Technova,
the Normal,
Bizarre Inc.,
Livin' Joy,
Slave,
Marmalade,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Agitation Free,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Zapp,
Albert Ayler,
Danielle Patucci,
Pylon,
Boredoms,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
PIL,
Gong,
Skaos,
Harmonia,
The Moody Blues,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Barracudas,
Nik Kershaw,
Maleditus Sound,
DNA,
FM Einheit,
Grauzone,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Minny Pops,
The Raincoats,
Roy Ayers,
The Last Poets,
Lightning Bolt,
Brand Nubian,
Bauhaus,
Animal Collective,
Isaac Hayes,
Pussy Galore,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.