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 Philippines and from Toronto.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Gladiators to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Reagan Youth. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Motorama record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hoover,
The Electric Prunes,
Yellowson,
Pharoah Sanders,
R.M.O.,
Liliput,
Saccharine Trust,
Marmalade,
a-ha,
Von Mondo,
Young Marble Giants,
Piero Umiliani,
June of 44,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Martian,
Moby Grape,
Donald Byrd,
MC5,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Television Personalities,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Johnny Clarke,
Ludus,
The Index,
Moss Icon,
Connie Case,
Marine Girls,
Morten Harket,
Maleditus Sound,
Scion,
The Black Dice,
Mad Mike,
The New Christs,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Yaz,
Rufus Thomas,
Curtis Mayfield,
B.T. Express,
Angry Samoans,
Rites of Spring,
Byron Stingily,
The Five Americans,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Davy DMX,
The Zeros,
Parry Music,
UT,
Soul II Soul,
The Doors,
Ultra Naté,
The Mummies,
Chrome,
Jandek,
Colin Newman,
Minnie Riperton,
Niagra,
Sam Rivers,
D'Angelo,
Traffic Nightmare,
Brick,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.