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 Peru and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Yusef Lateef to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Khruangbin 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Bar-Kays record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
These Immortal Souls,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Tom Boy,
Radiohead,
UT,
Gabor Szabo,
Davy DMX,
Kerrie Biddell,
Archie Shepp,
World's Most,
Ultravox,
Chris & Cosey,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Motions,
The Black Dice,
Moss Icon,
Bobby Byrd,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sun Ra,
Matthew Bourne,
Average White Band,
Livin' Joy,
The Music Machine,
the Germs,
Wire,
Bauhaus,
Underground Resistance,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Yazoo,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Television,
Country Teasers,
ABC,
Echospace,
Eric B and Rakim,
Harry Pussy,
Accadde A,
Intrusion,
In Retrospect,
Quantec,
The Index,
Japan,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pierre Henry,
Lower 48,
PIL,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Black Bananas,
Parry Music,
Brand Nubian,
Jacques Brel,
The Leaves,
Lou Christie,
The Durutti Column,
Reagan Youth,
The Dead C,
Whodini,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux.
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.