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 New Zealand 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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Crime to the rap 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 Country Joe & The Fish. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New York Dolls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aloha Tigers,
The Star Department,
Funky Four + One,
Fear,
DJ Style,
The Modern Lovers,
Skriet,
Black Moon,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Frankie Knuckles,
Von Mondo,
The Flesh Eaters,
DJ Sneak,
Isaac Hayes,
Robert Wyatt,
Supertramp,
Little Man,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Josef K,
Traffic Nightmare,
the Bar-Kays,
David Axelrod,
The Evens,
Pussy Galore,
Lou Reed,
Man Parrish,
Pylon,
Crooked Eye,
The Pretty Things,
Neil Young,
Sarah Menescal,
Lucky Dragons,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bootsy Collins,
Buzzcocks,
Skarface,
Tears for Fears,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Fort Wilson Riot,
June Days,
Don Cherry,
The Monochrome Set,
Gang Gang Dance,
Moss Icon,
James White and The Blacks,
10cc,
Urselle,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Eurythmics,
Animal Collective,
Patti Smith,
The Offenders,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dorothy Ashby,
In Retrospect,
Ultravox,
Procol Harum,
Babytalk,
Dead Boys,
The Misunderstood,
The Tremeloes,
Albert Ayler,
Ronnie Foster,
The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids.
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.