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 Mozambique and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 theremin 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 Bobby Byrd to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Gang Dance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiopuhelimet,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Residents,
Mission of Burma,
Albert Ayler,
Erykah Badu,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ponytail,
Vladislav Delay,
The Young Rascals,
Funky Four + One,
8 Eyed Spy,
the Slits,
The Pretty Things,
Spoonie Gee,
Letta Mbulu,
MDC,
Essential Logic,
Angry Samoans,
Tommy Roe,
Jeff Mills,
This Heat,
Royal Trux,
Alice Coltrane,
The Velvet Underground,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jacques Brel,
Judy Mowatt,
Delta 5,
Dennis Brown,
Duran Duran,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jacob Miller,
The Fire Engines,
Boz Scaggs,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Severed Heads,
The Raincoats,
10cc,
Byron Stingily,
the Germs,
Grauzone,
T.S.O.L.,
Idris Muhammad,
The Dirtbombs,
Susan Cadogan,
Reagan Youth,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Terry Callier,
Sparks,
Soft Machine,
Max Romeo,
Circle Jerks,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Neon Judgement,
Technova,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.