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 Burundi 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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Tehran.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Marmalade 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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Evens record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick Morgan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Make Up,
Vainqueur,
Shuggie Otis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Radiopuhelimet,
Soul II Soul,
Avey Tare,
The American Breed,
Alice Coltrane,
The Mojo Men,
Livin' Joy,
The United States of America,
Public Image Ltd.,
Lee Hazlewood,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Unrelated Segments,
Leonard Cohen,
Thee Headcoats,
Ultra Naté,
Anakelly,
Spoonie Gee,
Alison Limerick,
Tubeway Army,
Glenn Branca,
Agent Orange,
The Mummies,
Eden Ahbez,
Masters at Work,
Bush Tetras,
Q65,
Stereo Dub,
The Monochrome Set,
Laurel Aitken,
Flash Fearless,
Piero Umiliani,
Circle Jerks,
Terrestrial Tones,
Archie Shepp,
Ralphi Rosario,
John Lydon,
Quadrant,
Brick,
Index,
The Fuzztones,
Scion,
Mars,
Anthony Braxton,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Erykah Badu,
Section 25,
Idris Muhammad,
Scan 7,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kurtis Blow,
AZ,
Whodini,
Brass Construction,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Echospace, Echospace, Echospace, Echospace.
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.