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 Paraguay and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Youth Brigade to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yusef Lateef record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Joe Smooth,
Harry Pussy,
The Sound,
Khruangbin,
Laurel Aitken,
The Blackbyrds,
Nils Olav,
John Coltrane,
Sonny Sharrock,
Faust,
the Human League,
The Searchers,
The Buckinghams,
Marine Girls,
Saccharine Trust,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bobby Byrd,
the Bar-Kays,
Interpol,
The Pretty Things,
The Durutti Column,
Lower 48,
MC5,
Unwound,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lou Reed,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
EPMD,
Hardrive,
Swans,
Boredoms,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Isaac Hayes,
Don Cherry,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Guru Guru,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scott Walker,
Easy Going,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Basic Channel,
The New Christs,
Bobby Womack,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Angry Samoans,
Trumans Water,
Hashim,
The Index,
Television Personalities,
Bob Dylan,
These Immortal Souls,
Groovy Waters,
Mad Mike,
Fear,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Kayak,
Lalo Schifrin,
Technova,
UT,
The Barracudas,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.