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 Italy 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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Houston.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Nas to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Organ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Main Source record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
F. McDonald,
Moss Icon,
Hasil Adkins,
Tommy Roe,
The Walker Brothers,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ralphi Rosario,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Music Machine,
Agent Orange,
Graham Central Station,
Swell Maps,
Mark Hollis,
Pussy Galore,
Gang of Four,
New York Dolls,
Barrington Levy,
Khruangbin,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Knickerbockers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Reagan Youth,
Nirvana,
Piero Umiliani,
Archie Shepp,
Lou Christie,
Skarface,
Jeff Lynne,
Marcia Griffiths,
Johnny Osbourne,
Goldenarms,
Bill Wells,
LL Cool J,
Banda Bassotti,
Gastr Del Sol,
Babytalk,
Janne Schatter,
Panda Bear,
Index,
Sarah Menescal,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
10cc,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ten City,
Camouflage,
the Slits,
Black Bananas,
R.M.O.,
Frankie Knuckles,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Moebius,
The New Christs,
The Leaves,
In Retrospect,
Pole,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.