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 Taiwan and from Portland.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Rotary Connection to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Subhumans. All the underground hits.
All Unrelated Segments tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
The Techniques,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Pretty Things,
the Bar-Kays,
The Cure,
Judy Mowatt,
Pulsallama,
The Birthday Party,
Ronan,
Lou Christie,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Human League,
T. Rex,
Q and Not U,
Grauzone,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Warsaw,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Barry Ungar,
Hashim,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Grass Roots,
Crime,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Move,
Electric Prunes,
Gil Scott Heron,
LL Cool J,
Infiniti,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Excepter,
Motorama,
Marvin Gaye,
Scion,
Unrelated Segments,
Whodini,
Half Japanese,
Chris & Cosey,
Spoonie Gee,
Ossler,
Joe Smooth,
Slick Rick,
Bootsy Collins,
Fad Gadget,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Jacques Brel,
Yusef Lateef,
Reuben Wilson,
Aloha Tigers,
One Last Wish,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Roy Ayers,
Avey Tare,
Alice Coltrane,
Ralphi Rosario,
Idris Muhammad,
Rotary Connection,
Kaleidoscope,
Andrew Hill,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.