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 Uzbekistan and from Tokyo.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the güiro 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 Franke to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gories record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Eddi Front,
Moby Grape,
Josef K,
Archie Shepp,
The Move,
X-101,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Scrapy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Sixth Finger,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Black Bananas,
Shuggie Otis,
Jesper Dahlback,
Brass Construction,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ultravox,
The Pop Group,
Franke,
Man Parrish,
The Fuzztones,
Mantronix,
Suicide,
Whodini,
Danielle Patucci,
cv313,
Marvin Gaye,
Ralphi Rosario,
Model 500,
Toni Rubio,
Maleditus Sound,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Bar-Kays,
The Sound,
The Evens,
Sun City Girls,
Minnie Riperton,
The Young Rascals,
Massinfluence,
Ornette Coleman,
Talk Talk,
Rites of Spring,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Radio Birdman,
Sarah Menescal,
Rapeman,
Angry Samoans,
Motorama,
Robert Wyatt,
Alice Coltrane,
Procol Harum,
Don Cherry,
The Wake,
Magma,
Slick Rick,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Black Dice,
Dual Sessions,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.