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 Japan and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 spring reverb 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 Sonic Youth to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Remains record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
The Cowsills,
Sonny Sharrock,
Todd Terry,
U.S. Maple,
Con Funk Shun,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Martian,
The Evens,
Whodini,
Goldenarms,
Arcadia,
Derrick May,
Malaria!,
The Slackers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Selecter,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Fugazi,
The Index,
Ohio Players,
Nation of Ulysses,
David Axelrod,
Cecil Taylor,
Warsaw,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Mighty Diamonds,
a-ha,
The Shadows of Knight,
Camouflage,
Chrome,
Sight & Sound,
The Detroit Cobras,
Yusef Lateef,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Grey Daturas,
Lou Christie,
Gang of Four,
Spandau Ballet,
Mad Mike,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Slick Rick,
X-Ray Spex,
David McCallum,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Godley & Creme,
Pole,
Animal Collective,
Von Mondo,
Erykah Badu,
Blossom Toes,
The Young Rascals,
Wire,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
the Swans,
The Fortunes,
The Buckinghams,
Bad Manners,
Y Pants,
Drexciya,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.