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 Namibia and from Toronto.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar 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 Qualms to the grunge 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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crooked Eye 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
D'Angelo,
Howard Jones,
Sonic Youth,
Arab on Radar,
Camouflage,
Pylon,
The Stooges,
Loose Ends,
T. Rex,
Harpers Bizarre,
Johnny Clarke,
Patti Smith,
Avey Tare,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eddi Front,
Drive Like Jehu,
Yusef Lateef,
Gichy Dan,
Unwound,
48th St. Collective,
Rites of Spring,
Pussy Galore,
Magazine,
Colin Newman,
The Star Department,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Glenn Branca,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Flamin' Groovies,
Marine Girls,
Crime,
DJ Style,
Lalann,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Qualms,
Subhumans,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Television Personalities,
L. Decosne,
Blancmange,
The Gladiators,
Grauzone,
Siglo XX,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Last Poets,
The Pretty Things,
Darondo,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Masters at Work,
Robert Görl,
The Techniques,
The Moleskins,
Tropical Tobacco,
EPMD,
Supertramp,
Pierre Henry,
The Fortunes,
Donny Hathaway,
Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles.
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.