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 Micronesia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Mandrill to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Vogues. All the underground hits.
All Rotary Connection tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Little Man,
Easy Going,
Rosa Yemen,
The Seeds,
The Five Americans,
The Names,
The Saints,
Derrick Morgan,
ABBA,
Idris Muhammad,
48th St. Collective,
The J.B.'s,
The Smiths,
Basic Channel,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Youth Brigade,
Khruangbin,
Joyce Sims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Piero Umiliani,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Young Rascals,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Stetsasonic,
Funkadelic,
DNA,
Jandek,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Christie,
Nirvana,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Wally Richardson,
The Real Kids,
Agent Orange,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Tremeloes,
Second Layer,
Cheater Slicks,
Spoonie Gee,
Malaria!,
Surgeon,
Animal Collective,
the Sonics,
Eden Ahbez,
Bad Manners,
Panda Bear,
a-ha,
Procol Harum,
Man Eating Sloth,
Niagra,
Scan 7,
The Sonics,
June Days,
Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape.
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.