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 Peru and from Cairo.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 linndrum 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 Carl Craig to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cal Tjader record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Grass Roots,
Thompson Twins,
Spoonie Gee,
Model 500,
Gang Starr,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Knickerbockers,
Dawn Penn,
Pylon,
David Axelrod,
New Age Steppers,
The Slits,
Main Source,
the Swans,
Gabor Szabo,
Moebius,
Heaven 17,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Connie Case,
Ossler,
The Litter,
Drexciya,
Lower 48,
Mad Mike,
The Divine Comedy,
Lou Reed,
Eve St. Jones,
Eddi Front,
Panda Bear,
Drive Like Jehu,
Anthony Braxton,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kurtis Blow,
L. Decosne,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Misunderstood,
Jerry's Kids,
Leonard Cohen,
Robert Görl,
Television Personalities,
Unwound,
Zapp,
X-102,
Pussy Galore,
Peter and Kerry,
The Golliwogs,
Al Stewart,
Nils Olav,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Stooges,
Brick,
Desert Stars,
Yazoo,
Moss Icon,
Marcia Griffiths,
Scott Walker,
the Association,
Minnie Riperton,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Minutemen,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.