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 Kazakhstan and from Bologna.
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 Milan and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Fire Engines to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All Masters at Work tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Josef K 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
The Offenders,
Soul II Soul,
The Seeds,
The Selecter,
Delon & Dalcan,
John Cale,
Minnie Riperton,
Gil Scott Heron,
Robert Görl,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Moby Grape,
Goldenarms,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gabor Szabo,
These Immortal Souls,
Godley & Creme,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Knickerbockers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Smog,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Man Parrish,
The Smiths,
Alton Ellis,
Alison Limerick,
The Fugs,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Aloha Tigers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Derrick Morgan,
Barbara Tucker,
Alice Coltrane,
Wolf Eyes,
Amon Düül II,
Fatback Band,
Marc Almond,
The Fire Engines,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lakeside,
Warren Ellis,
Cymande,
Rites of Spring,
Ohio Players,
Crispy Ambulance,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Can,
Urselle,
KRS-One,
The Slits,
The Pop Group,
Harpers Bizarre,
Television Personalities,
Duran Duran,
Mark Hollis,
Janne Schatter,
Radio Birdman,
The Buckinghams,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Grauzone,
UT,
Echospace, Echospace, Echospace, Echospace.
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.