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 Fiji and from Spokane.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Bauhaus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dual Sessions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Moon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scott Walker,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sparks,
Basic Channel,
Masters at Work,
Hot Snakes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gang Starr,
Andrew Hill,
Saccharine Trust,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Talk Talk,
Bad Manners,
Nils Olav,
New Order,
Silicon Teens,
Trumans Water,
The Techniques,
Wings,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bang On A Can,
Roy Ayers,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Y Pants,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Zero Boys,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Johnny Clarke,
The Walker Brothers,
The Seeds,
Newcleus,
Joyce Sims,
Stiv Bators,
Porter Ricks,
Animal Collective,
Au Pairs,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jeff Mills,
Nas,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
X-101,
Jandek,
The Raincoats,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Mummies,
Ralphi Rosario,
Schoolly D,
Brand Nubian,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Searchers,
Crispian St. Peters,
Henry Cow,
The Electric Prunes,
Unrelated Segments,
The Associates,
Slave,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.