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 Chile and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 Negative Approach to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
The Fuzztones,
Susan Cadogan,
The Evens,
Eric Copeland,
Aaron Thompson,
Clear Light,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Brand Nubian,
Soft Cell,
L. Decosne,
The Names,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Johnny Osbourne,
Nils Olav,
New Order,
The Angels of Light,
Sixth Finger,
Iggy Pop,
Godley & Creme,
Barrington Levy,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Youth Brigade,
Black Bananas,
U.S. Maple,
Fugazi,
Oblivians,
Ten City,
Organ,
Laurel Aitken,
The Slits,
Rekid,
Alton Ellis,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scrapy,
Yazoo,
The Buckinghams,
Carl Craig,
Panda Bear,
John Cale,
Little Man,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Neil Young,
Eddi Front,
The Grass Roots,
The United States of America,
Tomorrow,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Von Mondo,
Grey Daturas,
Ken Boothe,
the Slits,
The Five Americans,
Ultra Naté,
Marine Girls,
One Last Wish,
Amon Düül II,
the Germs,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.