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 Benin and from Columbus.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Royal Trux to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Skarface. All the underground hits.
All Anakelly tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gong 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MDC,
The Raincoats,
Lee Hazlewood,
Simply Red,
The Dead C,
Steve Hackett,
Duran Duran,
Jandek,
Arthur Verocai,
Dawn Penn,
Tom Boy,
ABBA,
Khruangbin,
The Victims,
Fad Gadget,
Hasil Adkins,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Amon Düül,
Jeff Mills,
Warsaw,
Scrapy,
Rod Modell,
Eli Mardock,
Slave,
Lou Christie,
The Moleskins,
Alice Coltrane,
Deadbeat,
Funky Four + One,
Althea and Donna,
The Searchers,
The Music Machine,
China Crisis,
Black Sheep,
Animal Collective,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Harpers Bizarre,
Isaac Hayes,
The Divine Comedy,
Ice-T,
Toni Rubio,
The Gladiators,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sällskapet,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ludus,
the Normal,
Kevin Saunderson,
Stiv Bators,
Spoonie Gee,
Jacques Brel,
Alphaville,
Severed Heads,
Faraquet,
Radio Birdman,
Kenny Larkin,
Letta Mbulu,
Black Flag,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.