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 Bulgaria and from Seoul.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet 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 Boogie Down Productions to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Shadows of Knight. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Lynne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suicide record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
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,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Moebius,
The Grass Roots,
Dual Sessions,
La Düsseldorf,
Yaz,
The Doobie Brothers,
Barrington Levy,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lower 48,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Red Krayola,
Boz Scaggs,
Blancmange,
Bizarre Inc.,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Zapp,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Zeros,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Subhumans,
Tom Boy,
MC5,
Jeff Lynne,
Supertramp,
Rotary Connection,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Saints,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Blackbyrds,
Saccharine Trust,
Avey Tare,
Arcadia,
The Fuzztones,
Television Personalities,
The Evens,
Outsiders,
Tubeway Army,
Neu!,
Soulsonic Force,
Tears for Fears,
Eden Ahbez,
Funkadelic,
Black Flag,
Funky Four + One,
In Retrospect,
Vladislav Delay,
The Gories,
Maleditus Sound,
Von Mondo,
Liliput,
Symarip,
Young Marble Giants,
Amazonics,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Durutti Column,
The Dead C,
Aural Exciters,
Organ,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.