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 Guinea-Bissau 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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar 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 Saccharine Trust to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All The Mighty Diamonds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
Tom Boy,
The Toasters,
Johnny Clarke,
John Coltrane,
Magazine,
Bronski Beat,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kas Product,
Moss Icon,
John Lydon,
Metal Thangz,
Patti Smith,
Prince Buster,
Zero Boys,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Soul II Soul,
Crash Course in Science,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Angry Samoans,
These Immortal Souls,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Toni Rubio,
The J.B.'s,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Saints,
Moby Grape,
Absolute Body Control,
Jacob Miller,
Vainqueur,
Altered Images,
B.T. Express,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Music Machine,
Danielle Patucci,
Surgeon,
The Sonics,
Pierre Henry,
Organ,
Simply Red,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
T.S.O.L.,
Roxy Music,
Stereo Dub,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Section 25,
Cymande,
Amon Düül II,
DJ Style,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Human League,
Ronan,
La Düsseldorf,
The Misunderstood,
Crooked Eye,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Average White Band,
Young Marble Giants,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Janne Schatter,
Cluster,
The Invisible, The Invisible, The Invisible, The Invisible.
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.