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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the marimba 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 Nation of Ulysses to the disco 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 the Germs. All the underground hits.
All The Fugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aural Exciters 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Motorama,
Ken Boothe,
Clear Light,
These Immortal Souls,
Sonny Sharrock,
New Order,
Kayak,
Cluster,
Todd Terry,
Basic Channel,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Japan,
Sister Nancy,
Mission of Burma,
World's Most,
The Grass Roots,
Jesper Dahlback,
Crispy Ambulance,
Fat Boys,
This Heat,
MDC,
Isaac Hayes,
Fluxion,
10cc,
Spoonie Gee,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Sound,
Dual Sessions,
Girls At Our Best!,
Niagra,
Desert Stars,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
X-101,
Sun Ra,
Minutemen,
Young Marble Giants,
F. McDonald,
The Fortunes,
Babytalk,
The Electric Prunes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Doors,
Anakelly,
Malaria!,
John Cale,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Mars,
The Mummies,
The Neon Judgement,
Altered Images,
Ultravox,
Wolf Eyes,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Leonard Cohen,
One Last Wish,
Monolake,
The Birthday Party,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.