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 Liberia and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 snare 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 Derrick Morgan to the rap 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 Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Offenders,
The Monks,
The Velvet Underground,
Easy Going,
Depeche Mode,
The Litter,
Icehouse,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Siglo XX,
Don Cherry,
Trumans Water,
Pantytec,
Nas,
Joyce Sims,
KRS-One,
The Sound,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Duran Duran,
Morten Harket,
Minutemen,
Ohio Players,
The Monochrome Set,
Flamin' Groovies,
Vladislav Delay,
Pussy Galore,
Minnie Riperton,
Agitation Free,
Black Pus,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Warren Ellis,
Lungfish,
Country Teasers,
Lou Reed,
Inner City,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Drive Like Jehu,
Grey Daturas,
Fugazi,
Infiniti,
The Durutti Column,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Cowsills,
Connie Case,
The Real Kids,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Byron Stingily,
Khruangbin,
D'Angelo,
Robert Görl,
Goldenarms,
Stereo Dub,
Amon Düül,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Arthur Verocai,
Dual Sessions,
the Bar-Kays,
Amon Düül II,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Roy Ayers,
Joey Negro,
Sarah Menescal,
Sparks, Sparks, Sparks, Sparks.
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.