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 Nicaragua and from Lille.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Jawbox to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All MC5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Josef K 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 '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 Spoonie Gee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Nico,
Pole,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Das Ding,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Underground Resistance,
Liliput,
Bill Near,
Whodini,
The Cowsills,
Black Bananas,
Ultra Naté,
Sparks,
Joey Negro,
Cheater Slicks,
the Normal,
Mo-Dettes,
The Doors,
Glenn Branca,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Gap Band,
ABBA,
Shuggie Otis,
Panda Bear,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Main Source,
Dark Day,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The American Breed,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Rhythm & Sound,
Malaria!,
OOIOO,
Arthur Verocai,
Sandy B,
Tom Boy,
Faraquet,
Godley & Creme,
Metal Thangz,
U.S. Maple,
R.M.O.,
Howard Jones,
Arab on Radar,
Los Fastidios,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
JFA,
Skarface,
Cecil Taylor,
Oblivians,
Unwound,
Ossler,
Toni Rubio,
Maurizio,
In Retrospect,
X-Ray Spex,
Second Layer,
The Mojo Men,
The Monks,
Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust.
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.