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 Uganda and from Portland.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Birthday Party to the electroclash 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 LL Cool J. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young 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?
Inner City,
Marmalade,
Swans,
The Beau Brummels,
Circle Jerks,
The Trojans,
Tears for Fears,
The Smiths,
Chrome,
Yaz,
The Music Machine,
The Seeds,
Rakim,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Roy Ayers,
Oblivians,
Marvin Gaye,
Warsaw,
AZ,
Avey Tare,
Bobby Byrd,
Harmonia,
Gil Scott Heron,
Marine Girls,
FM Einheit,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jandek,
The Real Kids,
The Searchers,
Underground Resistance,
Yellowson,
These Immortal Souls,
Pulsallama,
The Cowsills,
June Days,
Anakelly,
Aloha Tigers,
Harpers Bizarre,
Organ,
Gastr Del Sol,
Roger Hodgson,
Sex Pistols,
Neil Young,
The Saints,
Japan,
Warren Ellis,
Moebius,
The Slackers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lalann,
Electric Prunes,
Scientists,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Buzzcocks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Oneida,
Y Pants,
New Age Steppers,
Adolescents,
Monolake,
Donny Hathaway,
Kas Product, Kas Product, Kas Product, Kas Product.
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.