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 Estonia 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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 spring reverb 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 Todd Terry to the electroclash 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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Metal Thangz 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dark Day,
Quantec,
Crispian St. Peters,
Joyce Sims,
Pagans,
Arthur Verocai,
Theoretical Girls,
Moebius,
Eurythmics,
Man Eating Sloth,
Severed Heads,
T. Rex,
The Move,
Brass Construction,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pierre Henry,
Amazonics,
MDC,
KRS-One,
Sister Nancy,
The Golliwogs,
Desert Stars,
Shoche,
Black Bananas,
Roger Hodgson,
Ultra Naté,
the Slits,
Vladislav Delay,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joensuu 1685,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Martian,
Pantaleimon,
FM Einheit,
The Dirtbombs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Stiv Bators,
Lou Reed,
Godley & Creme,
Glambeats Corp.,
Whodini,
Danielle Patucci,
the Association,
The Slits,
The Velvet Underground,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Busters,
Avey Tare,
LL Cool J,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Eric Dolphy,
Fad Gadget,
Smog,
The Grass Roots,
Mars,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Five Americans,
Colin Newman,
Magma,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Joy Division,
Inner City, Inner City, Inner City, Inner City.
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.