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 Marshall Islands and from Tehran.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin 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 Vladislav Delay to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Franke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Deakin,
Brick,
Barbara Tucker,
Television,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
Shoche,
Marine Girls,
Massinfluence,
Dorothy Ashby,
Slave,
Pole,
Bobby Byrd,
June of 44,
LL Cool J,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Grass Roots,
The Selecter,
Jesper Dahlback,
Easy Going,
Radio Birdman,
Cabaret Voltaire,
T. Rex,
Sam Rivers,
Little Man,
Reuben Wilson,
Banda Bassotti,
Man Eating Sloth,
Khruangbin,
One Last Wish,
Roxy Music,
Outsiders,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Heaven 17,
Pere Ubu,
Monolake,
Camouflage,
Leonard Cohen,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Public Enemy,
The Misunderstood,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Blues Magoos,
Eric Dolphy,
Ronnie Foster,
Ten City,
Marmalade,
Jacques Brel,
Royal Trux,
Sun Ra,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Five Americans,
F. McDonald,
Harmonia,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gong,
Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour.
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.