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 Nauru and from Milan.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the organ 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 N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Niagra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad 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 guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Technova record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
FM Einheit,
Adolescents,
The Slits,
JFA,
Drive Like Jehu,
Altered Images,
Supertramp,
kango's stein massive,
Alton Ellis,
Quando Quango,
Glambeats Corp.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lucky Dragons,
Outsiders,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Fugs,
Roy Ayers,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Howard Jones,
The Golliwogs,
The Knickerbockers,
Sonic Youth,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Funkadelic,
Simply Red,
Gregory Isaacs,
Das Ding,
Ken Boothe,
the Swans,
Joey Negro,
Royal Trux,
Kas Product,
Sex Pistols,
Letta Mbulu,
Accadde A,
Bobby Womack,
The Wake,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bill Near,
Radiopuhelimet,
Barclay James Harvest,
Joe Smooth,
Roger Hodgson,
The United States of America,
Johnny Clarke,
Main Source,
Eli Mardock,
Derrick May,
The Stooges,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Count Five,
The Buckinghams,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
In Retrospect,
The Smiths,
Arab on Radar,
Newcleus,
Banda Bassotti,
The Zeros,
Ludus,
The Index, The Index, The Index, The Index.
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.