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 Taiwan and from Tokyo.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 mellotron 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 Golliwogs to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Yaz. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Easy Going,
Shuggie Otis,
Amazonics,
Wire,
Q and Not U,
Hardrive,
ABBA,
Dead Boys,
Unrelated Segments,
L. Decosne,
The Skatalites,
The Dave Clark Five,
Buzzcocks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Flag,
Camberwell Now,
The Count Five,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Barbara Tucker,
Carl Craig,
Little Man,
Hoover,
Country Teasers,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Ultimate Spinach,
June Days,
Sonic Youth,
Roxette,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Tremeloes,
Jacques Brel,
F. McDonald,
MC5,
Jimmy McGriff,
Section 25,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Cybotron,
Infiniti,
Mo-Dettes,
Suburban Knight,
Visage,
Peter & Gordon,
Pierre Henry,
Jandek,
Lungfish,
Slave,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Slick Rick,
Maurizio,
Animal Collective,
Gang of Four,
Black Sheep,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Quadrant,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Kinks,
Fatback Band,
Bluetip,
Swell Maps,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.