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 Ivory Coast and from Manchester.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 MDC to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon. All the underground hits.
All Yazoo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Pierre Henry,
Monolake,
the Human League,
Minor Threat,
Brick,
Lightning Bolt,
Roxette,
Bush Tetras,
Pulsallama,
Simply Red,
Josef K,
Saccharine Trust,
Moss Icon,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Glambeats Corp.,
Tubeway Army,
Mandrill,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Nas,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
X-Ray Spex,
These Immortal Souls,
June Days,
Japan,
MC5,
The Angels of Light,
Intrusion,
Aaron Thompson,
Gichy Dan,
The Red Krayola,
Kenny Larkin,
Radiohead,
John Cale,
The Velvet Underground,
Basic Channel,
Jeru the Damaja,
Max Romeo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lebanon Hanover,
Chris Corsano,
Johnny Osbourne,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Susan Cadogan,
The Smiths,
Albert Ayler,
KRS-One,
CMW,
Graham Central Station,
David Axelrod,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bad Manners,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rapeman,
Bill Near,
Skaos,
Quadrant,
Bluetip,
Sällskapet,
Byron Stingily,
cv313,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Smoke,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.