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 Ethiopia and from Copenhagen.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Smiths to the jazz 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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All The American Breed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Banda Bassotti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Joyce Sims,
Parry Music,
Faust,
Magma,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fat Boys,
Bronski Beat,
Procol Harum,
Barbara Tucker,
Sonic Youth,
Pulsallama,
Man Parrish,
The Techniques,
Rhythm & Sound,
Colin Newman,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gang Starr,
Cluster,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Alison Limerick,
Neu!,
The Sonics,
Amon Düül II,
Bad Manners,
the Germs,
the Bar-Kays,
Eric B and Rakim,
The New Christs,
Marshall Jefferson,
Can,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pole,
X-Ray Spex,
The Monks,
Joey Negro,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Quadrant,
June of 44,
Barclay James Harvest,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Mission of Burma,
Nas,
Toni Rubio,
Fear,
Boz Scaggs,
Clear Light,
The Dead C,
The Evens,
X-102,
The Human League,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Michelle Simonal,
Camouflage,
Porter Ricks,
Livin' Joy,
Mark Hollis,
Whodini,
The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats.
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.