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 Serbia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Barrington Levy,
FM Einheit,
Lakeside,
Black Moon,
The Slits,
Crooked Eye,
Lower 48,
The Gladiators,
Chrome,
Liliput,
Rekid,
Magazine,
Reagan Youth,
ABC,
Mad Mike,
Von Mondo,
Sparks,
Man Eating Sloth,
Groovy Waters,
Mary Jane Girls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Siglo XX,
Erykah Badu,
Boz Scaggs,
Absolute Body Control,
Ossler,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Residents,
The Beau Brummels,
Porter Ricks,
The Fortunes,
David McCallum,
A Certain Ratio,
Carl Craig,
Graham Central Station,
The Happenings,
John Lydon,
Big Daddy Kane,
Patti Smith,
The Moleskins,
Tears for Fears,
Radiopuhelimet,
Wolf Eyes,
Nick Fraelich,
Peter and Kerry,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Tropical Tobacco,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
David Bowie,
The Misunderstood,
Marmalade,
the Germs,
Rapeman,
The Move,
kango's stein massive,
Cabaret Voltaire,
B.T. Express,
Blossom Toes,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Inner City,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.