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 Panama and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Rod Modell to the funk 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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stockholm Monsters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy's Rubber Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Khruangbin,
Sarah Menescal,
The Walker Brothers,
Marvin Gaye,
Maurizio,
Fela Kuti,
The Alarm Clocks,
The American Breed,
Gil Scott Heron,
10cc,
Sun Ra,
U.S. Maple,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Mummies,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Marcia Griffiths,
Absolute Body Control,
Minny Pops,
Average White Band,
David Bowie,
Hardrive,
Urselle,
Todd Terry,
The Moleskins,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Swans,
The Birthday Party,
Gastr Del Sol,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Pierre Henry,
Cluster,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Sound,
Marmalade,
Letta Mbulu,
Goldenarms,
The Skatalites,
These Immortal Souls,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Los Fastidios,
Essential Logic,
Fluxion,
T.S.O.L.,
Maleditus Sound,
Agitation Free,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lou Reed,
Matthew Halsall,
Altered Images,
Dave Gahan,
The Gladiators,
Ponytail,
Stetsasonic,
The Angels of Light,
the Normal,
Babytalk,
Sound Behaviour,
The Misunderstood,
Soul Sonic Force,
Barrington Levy,
Pylon,
Little Man,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.