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 Dominica and from Bremen.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Shuggie Otis to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Joey Negro. All the underground hits.
All Lakeside tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sound 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terry Callier record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Wake,
Gil Scott Heron,
Don Cherry,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Beau Brummels,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Matthew Halsall,
Boz Scaggs,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Soul Sonic Force,
This Heat,
Second Layer,
Charles Mingus,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sun Ra,
Crispy Ambulance,
Harry Pussy,
Black Bananas,
Jacques Brel,
Tom Boy,
Duran Duran,
the Sonics,
Lightning Bolt,
OOIOO,
Ohio Players,
Wings,
Aswad,
Yusef Lateef,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ronan,
Country Teasers,
The Pretty Things,
Neu!,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Jacob Miller,
Tim Buckley,
Chris Corsano,
The Blackbyrds,
Dennis Brown,
Harpers Bizarre,
Youth Brigade,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Terry Callier,
Ralphi Rosario,
E-Dancer,
a-ha,
Hasil Adkins,
Black Sheep,
The Vogues,
Glambeats Corp.,
Chris & Cosey,
Niagra,
The Smiths,
Desert Stars,
The J.B.'s,
Jeff Mills,
Avey Tare,
Fear,
The Fugs,
Lyres,
Stockholm Monsters,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu.
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.