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 Tonga and from New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Fela Kuti. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Main Source record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Simply Red,
PIL,
The Saints,
Crime,
Television Personalities,
Marvin Gaye,
Arthur Verocai,
Drexciya,
Nico,
The Kinks,
The Monks,
Janne Schatter,
Don Cherry,
Howard Jones,
D'Angelo,
Lou Christie,
Soulsonic Force,
The Gories,
Joe Smooth,
The Move,
Country Teasers,
Mars,
Radio Birdman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Pussy Galore,
Trumans Water,
Big Daddy Kane,
Oneida,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Japan,
Flipper,
Rotary Connection,
Danielle Patucci,
Pagans,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Donald Byrd,
Fatback Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Marmalade,
Fear,
The Doors,
Amon Düül,
Rod Modell,
Black Moon,
Aaron Thompson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Quando Quango,
Matthew Bourne,
Fad Gadget,
Drive Like Jehu,
Niagra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Desert Stars,
Cameo,
The United States of America,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.