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 Papua New Guinea and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Kas Product to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Glenn Branca tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythim Is Rhythim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pussy Galore,
Second Layer,
Das Ding,
The Martian,
Bronski Beat,
D'Angelo,
Main Source,
Bush Tetras,
Sarah Menescal,
B.T. Express,
Jawbox,
Erykah Badu,
OOIOO,
The Neon Judgement,
Sam Rivers,
Fugazi,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Byron Stingily,
Jeff Lynne,
Gabor Szabo,
Trumans Water,
Shuggie Otis,
Wings,
Sister Nancy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Moleskins,
The Doobie Brothers,
ABC,
Young Marble Giants,
Eve St. Jones,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pagans,
Maurizio,
Pulsallama,
Jacques Brel,
Adolescents,
Glenn Branca,
The Sonics,
Guru Guru,
Cameo,
The Misunderstood,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Khruangbin,
The Raincoats,
Thee Headcoats,
Cecil Taylor,
Davy DMX,
Severed Heads,
Theoretical Girls,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Japan,
Absolute Body Control,
Letta Mbulu,
The Divine Comedy,
Barrington Levy,
Spandau Ballet,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds.
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.