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 Botswana and from Paris.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 Sonic Youth 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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All The Remains tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharoah Sanders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Names,
Skriet,
The Fire Engines,
The Velvet Underground,
Loose Ends,
KRS-One,
The Smiths,
The Dave Clark Five,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Blackbyrds,
Lightning Bolt,
Unwound,
The Gories,
Surgeon,
Sun City Girls,
Mark Hollis,
The New Christs,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yusef Lateef,
Skarface,
Babytalk,
The Grass Roots,
The Birthday Party,
The Walker Brothers,
Michelle Simonal,
Jandek,
Jacques Brel,
Al Stewart,
Severed Heads,
Trumans Water,
Minutemen,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Gang of Four,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Music Machine,
Yellowson,
Minnie Riperton,
Marc Almond,
Johnny Osbourne,
Black Moon,
Scott Walker,
Animal Collective,
The Cowsills,
Ralphi Rosario,
Gabor Szabo,
Bronski Beat,
The Red Krayola,
The Sonics,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Stiv Bators,
Cal Tjader,
the Slits,
MC5,
Visage,
Eric Copeland,
Chrome,
X-102,
Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion, Intrusion.
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.