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 Lesotho and from Lille.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Music Machine to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Dawn Penn. All the underground hits.
All Larry & the Blue Notes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Loose Ends,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Cramps,
Pussy Galore,
Fatback Band,
Lyres,
Mandrill,
Sonic Youth,
The Fugs,
The Real Kids,
Dorothy Ashby,
Shoche,
Wire,
Bobby Byrd,
Michelle Simonal,
Minnie Riperton,
The Sound,
Jacob Miller,
Angry Samoans,
Livin' Joy,
Matthew Halsall,
Erasure,
The Count Five,
Groovy Waters,
Pierre Henry,
Darondo,
The Move,
Pere Ubu,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Iggy Pop,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Quando Quango,
Faust,
The Smiths,
Trumans Water,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Beau Brummels,
Model 500,
Duran Duran,
Rakim,
Glenn Branca,
Fela Kuti,
Gabor Szabo,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Rapeman,
The Slits,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bizarre Inc.,
Albert Ayler,
Eden Ahbez,
The Moleskins,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
the Swans,
Q and Not U,
The Angels of Light,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
T.S.O.L.,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ossler,
Amon Düül II,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
John Foxx,
Wasted Youth,
Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol.
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.