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 Fiji and from Columbus.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Fela Kuti to the rap 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Delon & Dalcan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Curtis Mayfield record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Loose Ends record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Technova,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lakeside,
The Doors,
Television Personalities,
Monks,
Newcleus,
The Durutti Column,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lower 48,
Kerrie Biddell,
Circle Jerks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
David Bowie,
Sparks,
Camberwell Now,
Pharoah Sanders,
UT,
Marmalade,
Rites of Spring,
the Sonics,
Oneida,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Hasil Adkins,
Marc Almond,
The Happenings,
John Foxx,
Morten Harket,
Harmonia,
R.M.O.,
Crash Course in Science,
Index,
The Count Five,
Shoche,
Byron Stingily,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Reuben Wilson,
The Sound,
The Mummies,
Boredoms,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Guru Guru,
Prince Buster,
Bang On A Can,
Flash Fearless,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Gladiators,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Arcadia,
Cybotron,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Scott Walker,
Gichy Dan,
The Last Poets,
Hoover,
Dorothy Ashby,
Dark Day,
Marvin Gaye,
Jeru the Damaja,
Gabor Szabo,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.