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 Australia and from Johannesburg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Gong to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Faust. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lebanon Hanover record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ice-T record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
Prince Buster,
X-102,
Zero Boys,
Rapeman,
DJ Style,
Yusef Lateef,
The Durutti Column,
The Sound,
The Litter,
Avey Tare,
Banda Bassotti,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Thee Headcoats,
Charles Mingus,
Nik Kershaw,
David Bowie,
Maurizio,
Young Marble Giants,
Supertramp,
The Doors,
Soft Machine,
The Human League,
OOIOO,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bush Tetras,
Groovy Waters,
Anthony Braxton,
Urselle,
L. Decosne,
Erykah Badu,
Electric Prunes,
Television Personalities,
Peter & Gordon,
The Busters,
The Grass Roots,
Public Enemy,
Idris Muhammad,
Arab on Radar,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Suburban Knight,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Masters at Work,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
One Last Wish,
The Standells,
Soul Sonic Force,
Brand Nubian,
Sight & Sound,
Swell Maps,
Joensuu 1685,
Donny Hathaway,
Whodini,
The Vogues,
Bluetip,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Arcadia,
Lindisfarne,
Hoover,
Porter Ricks,
Q and Not U,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Reagan Youth,
Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth.
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.