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 Uganda and from Tehran.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Tim Buckley to the disco 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 Lalann. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Eve St. Jones,
Althea and Donna,
Easy Going,
The Electric Prunes,
Kenny Larkin,
Laurel Aitken,
Schoolly D,
Circle Jerks,
The Index,
Boredoms,
Gang Gang Dance,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
In Retrospect,
Ronan,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Association,
Prince Buster,
Boogie Down Productions,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Stooges,
Pole,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Altered Images,
The Skatalites,
Albert Ayler,
Stockholm Monsters,
Joensuu 1685,
Sparks,
Marine Girls,
Buzzcocks,
Sight & Sound,
Arcadia,
Young Marble Giants,
T. Rex,
Funkadelic,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Cecil Taylor,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tomorrow,
Subhumans,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Evens,
Delon & Dalcan,
Cal Tjader,
Television,
Spoonie Gee,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Star Department,
Depeche Mode,
Scratch Acid,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Average White Band,
Jawbox,
Section 25,
The Offenders,
kango's stein massive,
The Motions,
the Normal,
Rosa Yemen,
Oneida,
Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy.
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.