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 Somalia 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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Paris.
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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 The Monochrome Set to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Halsall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites 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?
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bluetip,
June of 44,
Amazonics,
Prince Buster,
The United States of America,
Babytalk,
Morten Harket,
Maurizio,
Brand Nubian,
Talk Talk,
JFA,
Average White Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cecil Taylor,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Aaron Thompson,
Bad Manners,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rosa Yemen,
Ossler,
The Slits,
Vainqueur,
Suburban Knight,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kayak,
Camouflage,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Reuben Wilson,
The Barracudas,
Marmalade,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Los Fastidios,
Khruangbin,
The Gap Band,
Rekid,
Susan Cadogan,
Sister Nancy,
Oblivians,
Funkadelic,
Lee Hazlewood,
Kerri Chandler,
Chris Corsano,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Supertramp,
Leonard Cohen,
Sight & Sound,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stiv Bators,
Eve St. Jones,
Roxy Music,
Bauhaus,
A Certain Ratio,
David McCallum,
Althea and Donna,
Scott Walker,
Judy Mowatt,
Pantaleimon,
Brass Construction,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.