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 Azerbaijan and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the guitar 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 The Gories to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All Lungfish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quando Quango record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a World's Most record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Alton Ellis,
Faust,
Zapp,
Liliput,
Animal Collective,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lyres,
Bill Near,
The Index,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tom Boy,
KRS-One,
Danielle Patucci,
Talk Talk,
Pet Shop Boys,
Todd Terry,
Charles Mingus,
The Last Poets,
L. Decosne,
Andrew Hill,
Harpers Bizarre,
Smog,
Howard Jones,
Bad Manners,
Sonny Sharrock,
JFA,
Peter & Gordon,
Oneida,
Newcleus,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Kool Moe Dee,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Y Pants,
Ponytail,
Harmonia,
B.T. Express,
The Techniques,
U.S. Maple,
Technova,
Glambeats Corp.,
Jimmy McGriff,
James White and The Blacks,
Bill Wells,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The American Breed,
Swell Maps,
The Detroit Cobras,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Fugazi,
Audionom,
Surgeon,
The Music Machine,
Groovy Waters,
Arab on Radar,
D'Angelo,
The Smiths,
Ossler,
Jeff Mills,
Grauzone,
Little Man,
the Normal,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.