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 Iran and from Sao Paulo.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funkadelic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
Toni Rubio,
Neu!,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Radio Birdman,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lalann,
Das Ding,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Techniques,
Hashim,
Peter & Gordon,
Isaac Hayes,
Crooked Eye,
Clear Light,
Fugazi,
The Wake,
Traffic Nightmare,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Victims,
Bluetip,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Monochrome Set,
The Residents,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Crispy Ambulance,
Stereo Dub,
Cameo,
Dawn Penn,
Johnny Clarke,
Brass Construction,
Panda Bear,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Harry Pussy,
The Stooges,
Kerrie Biddell,
Reuben Wilson,
Niagra,
Joensuu 1685,
Lakeside,
Magma,
Mantronix,
Bill Wells,
Aloha Tigers,
Max Romeo,
Kurtis Blow,
Yazoo,
T. Rex,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Fortunes,
Outsiders,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Roger Hodgson,
Sandy B,
Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses.
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.