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 Jakarta.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe 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 Albert Ayler to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Fluxion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ajijia Myrayebe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Lower 48,
Ice-T,
Icehouse,
John Cale,
Scott Walker,
The Young Rascals,
The New Christs,
Gabor Szabo,
48th St. Collective,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fluxion,
The Velvet Underground,
Echospace,
the Swans,
Maleditus Sound,
Von Mondo,
Liliput,
Popol Vuh,
In Retrospect,
Youth Brigade,
Radio Birdman,
Heaven 17,
Lou Christie,
The Leaves,
Rosa Yemen,
Ituana,
Skaos,
Unrelated Segments,
Television,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dawn Penn,
Mr. Review,
Spandau Ballet,
The Slackers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jacques Brel,
Gang Starr,
The Count Five,
Cymande,
Alton Ellis,
Tubeway Army,
Hardrive,
Agitation Free,
The Dead C,
The Seeds,
Scratch Acid,
Public Enemy,
Cameo,
Anthony Braxton,
The Slits,
Glambeats Corp.,
Robert Hood,
The Pretty Things,
Bill Wells,
Anakelly,
cv313,
The Trojans,
Aloha Tigers,
Bronski Beat,
Ultravox,
the Slits,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.