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 Ghana and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 CMW to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Albert Ayler. All the underground hits.
All Rhythm & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Martian,
Amon Düül,
Joey Negro,
The Barracudas,
The Fall,
Ornette Coleman,
The Blackbyrds,
Blancmange,
Eve St. Jones,
The Offenders,
This Heat,
Fat Boys,
EPMD,
Dennis Brown,
Peter and Kerry,
David Bowie,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sight & Sound,
Mantronix,
Scratch Acid,
The Angels of Light,
Section 25,
Archie Shepp,
the Sonics,
Frankie Knuckles,
Clear Light,
Agent Orange,
The Index,
Goldenarms,
Patti Smith,
The Gories,
The Slackers,
The Busters,
Gang Starr,
Animal Collective,
The Alarm Clocks,
Television Personalities,
Q65,
Cecil Taylor,
Circle Jerks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Whodini,
Toni Rubio,
Moss Icon,
Mad Mike,
Pere Ubu,
The Vogues,
Drive Like Jehu,
Robert Wyatt,
Zero Boys,
Hardrive,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Byron Stingily,
Oblivians,
Youth Brigade,
The Buckinghams,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Magazine,
Idris Muhammad,
The Leaves, The Leaves, The Leaves, The Leaves.
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.