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 Switzerland and from Johannesburg.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Columbus.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Camberwell Now to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Urselle,
John Coltrane,
Cecil Taylor,
Arthur Verocai,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
World's Most,
Underground Resistance,
Sex Pistols,
Glenn Branca,
Harmonia,
Dorothy Ashby,
Technova,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Doobie Brothers,
Black Sheep,
Livin' Joy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sugar Minott,
The Selecter,
The Offenders,
Avey Tare,
Sun Ra,
Jeff Mills,
The Vogues,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Magma,
Marcia Griffiths,
Oblivians,
MDC,
Loose Ends,
Bobby Sherman,
Yusef Lateef,
The Seeds,
Colin Newman,
X-102,
Maurizio,
The Mummies,
Drive Like Jehu,
Roger Hodgson,
JFA,
R.M.O.,
Blossom Toes,
The Stooges,
Monks,
Faust,
Icehouse,
Royal Trux,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Thompson Twins,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ice-T,
The Sonics,
Japan,
Pagans,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
a-ha,
Gang Starr,
Arcadia,
Derrick Morgan,
Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music.
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.