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 Suriname and from Mexico City.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba 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 Bobby Hutcherson to the rock 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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All The Detroit Cobras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every AZ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wasted Youth,
The Gun Club,
Harmonia,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tom Boy,
X-Ray Spex,
Wolf Eyes,
Matthew Halsall,
The Litter,
Parry Music,
Avey Tare,
Nico,
The Fuzztones,
Faraquet,
Deadbeat,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Goldenarms,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Infiniti,
The Blues Magoos,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Urselle,
Joy Division,
Scratch Acid,
Janne Schatter,
Ultravox,
Quando Quango,
John Lydon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Massinfluence,
The Martian,
Fad Gadget,
Bauhaus,
Swell Maps,
Erykah Badu,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Johnny Clarke,
Ken Boothe,
Althea and Donna,
Donny Hathaway,
Animal Collective,
The Cure,
Beasts of Bourbon,
June Days,
the Sonics,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Nik Kershaw,
Aaron Thompson,
Joyce Sims,
Laurel Aitken,
Crooked Eye,
Harry Pussy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Bush Tetras,
Visage,
Joe Finger,
Monks,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tears for Fears,
Grey Daturas,
D'Angelo,
Cluster,
Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover.
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.