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 Tuvalu and from Stockholm.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the crunk 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 the Slits. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
KRS-One,
Pere Ubu,
James White and The Blacks,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Suicide,
Lou Reed,
Funkadelic,
Max Romeo,
DJ Style,
Tommy Roe,
Cheater Slicks,
Aaron Thompson,
The Busters,
Barry Ungar,
Black Sheep,
Half Japanese,
Niagra,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Fear,
Audionom,
Glenn Branca,
Shuggie Otis,
Al Stewart,
The Divine Comedy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Thompson Twins,
Lindisfarne,
OOIOO,
Theoretical Girls,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Birthday Party,
Man Parrish,
Roy Ayers,
Tim Buckley,
Nation of Ulysses,
Arab on Radar,
Idris Muhammad,
Hasil Adkins,
The Happenings,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jesper Dahlback,
The Music Machine,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Gap Band,
Ultravox,
Skriet,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Electric Prunes,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Residents,
Monolake,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Model 500,
The Blues Magoos,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.