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 Niger and from Milan.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 John Foxx. All the underground hits.
All Heavy D & The Boyz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cymande,
The Toasters,
Prince Buster,
The Pretty Things,
Judy Mowatt,
Gang Starr,
Sun City Girls,
Desert Stars,
Fluxion,
The Smoke,
Mars,
The Barracudas,
Roy Ayers,
Lebanon Hanover,
Wally Richardson,
Kenny Larkin,
Altered Images,
Glenn Branca,
Soul Sonic Force,
John Coltrane,
Fela Kuti,
D'Angelo,
Radiopuhelimet,
Johnny Osbourne,
Patti Smith,
Eddi Front,
Junior Murvin,
Joey Negro,
Wings,
Rekid,
Public Image Ltd.,
Swans,
The Offenders,
Funkadelic,
Gerry Rafferty,
Cybotron,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Faust,
Wolf Eyes,
Interpol,
Niagra,
The Monks,
Bootsy Collins,
K-Klass,
Josef K,
Lalann,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Brand Nubian,
Half Japanese,
Sam Rivers,
Erykah Badu,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
LL Cool J,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Graham Central Station,
Ultravox,
Robert Hood,
Infiniti,
World's Most,
Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal, Michelle Simonal.
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.