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 Mauritius 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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Paris.
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 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 Shoche to the rap 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yazoo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suburban Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barry Ungar,
Mary Jane Girls,
New Age Steppers,
Talk Talk,
Jawbox,
The Searchers,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Smoke,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ken Boothe,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Derrick Morgan,
Average White Band,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Velvet Underground,
Chris Corsano,
Deepchord,
John Holt,
The Durutti Column,
Boredoms,
Lower 48,
The Divine Comedy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Idris Muhammad,
Excepter,
Gastr Del Sol,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Tim Buckley,
Lee Hazlewood,
Flash Fearless,
Lucky Dragons,
LL Cool J,
Youth Brigade,
Marmalade,
Sex Pistols,
Television,
Glenn Branca,
Maurizio,
Agent Orange,
The Happenings,
Spandau Ballet,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Yusef Lateef,
Wings,
The Modern Lovers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Dirtbombs,
Judy Mowatt,
The Detroit Cobras,
Royal Trux,
Sarah Menescal,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Cluster,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
JFA,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Fire Engines,
Monolake,
Symarip,
Tears for Fears,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.