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 Belarus and from Jakarta.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 chamberlin 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Gabor Szabo,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Scientists,
Curtis Mayfield,
Electric Prunes,
Sarah Menescal,
Aswad,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
PIL,
The Pretty Things,
Make Up,
New York Dolls,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eric Copeland,
Wire,
Bluetip,
Scan 7,
The Fuzztones,
Chris Corsano,
Donny Hathaway,
Cybotron,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Misunderstood,
Lakeside,
Pylon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Rites of Spring,
Index,
Lucky Dragons,
The Blues Magoos,
Minny Pops,
Radiopuhelimet,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Oblivians,
DJ Style,
New Age Steppers,
Swell Maps,
Young Marble Giants,
Nico,
The Grass Roots,
Man Parrish,
Joensuu 1685,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Leonard Cohen,
The New Christs,
Minnie Riperton,
The Busters,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Barrington Levy,
Crime,
Mars,
Harry Pussy,
Faust,
The Real Kids,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ultravox,
Soul II Soul,
Stereo Dub,
Maurizio,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.