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 Hungary and from Tokyo.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Warren Ellis to the jazz 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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New York Dolls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Grass Roots,
Pere Ubu,
Model 500,
James White and The Blacks,
Funkadelic,
The Dirtbombs,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Skriet,
June of 44,
The Gladiators,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Moby Grape,
The Leaves,
Flamin' Groovies,
Anthony Braxton,
Moss Icon,
The Monochrome Set,
Slave,
Rufus Thomas,
Ten City,
Donald Byrd,
Organ,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
cv313,
Matthew Halsall,
Alison Limerick,
Talk Talk,
The Angels of Light,
Ossler,
Surgeon,
Dead Boys,
Animal Collective,
Parry Music,
Pharoah Sanders,
Boz Scaggs,
The Velvet Underground,
Nico,
Slick Rick,
X-Ray Spex,
Blancmange,
Swans,
Scion,
Bush Tetras,
Motorama,
Soft Machine,
Ornette Coleman,
The Invisible,
Arcadia,
The Techniques,
Amazonics,
Section 25,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Man Parrish,
Siglo XX,
Kerri Chandler,
Gang Gang Dance,
Josef K,
Rod Modell,
Kas Product,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
David Axelrod,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.