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 Finland and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 DJ Sneak to the grime 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 Rotary Connection. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every F. McDonald record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mummies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June Days,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Raincoats,
Tomorrow,
Dave Gahan,
The Fuzztones,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bill Wells,
The Last Poets,
Agitation Free,
X-101,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Ultravox,
Tim Buckley,
Sam Rivers,
The Fugs,
DNA,
Ohio Players,
Janne Schatter,
Ponytail,
Radio Birdman,
Ludus,
Matthew Halsall,
Lyres,
Maleditus Sound,
Spandau Ballet,
Basic Channel,
The Alarm Clocks,
Stereo Dub,
Joyce Sims,
Crime,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Human League,
Boredoms,
Curtis Mayfield,
Sun Ra,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Marvin Gaye,
Television,
The Star Department,
Gichy Dan,
Nico,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Colin Newman,
Dual Sessions,
Supertramp,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Yusef Lateef,
the Human League,
Index,
Altered Images,
Khruangbin,
Dorothy Ashby,
Soul Sonic Force,
Donny Hathaway,
Livin' Joy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
David Bowie,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.