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 Mauritius and from Tokyo.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Q65 to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Massinfluence. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gregory Isaacs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Slits,
Bad Manners,
This Heat,
Aloha Tigers,
The Cowsills,
Inner City,
EPMD,
Roxy Music,
K-Klass,
Mark Hollis,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Byron Stingily,
David Bowie,
ABBA,
Fela Kuti,
Surgeon,
Glambeats Corp.,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Blackbyrds,
Moebius,
D'Angelo,
Cameo,
Ponytail,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
John Lydon,
Gil Scott Heron,
Motorama,
Easy Going,
Colin Newman,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Jawbox,
Morten Harket,
Franke,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Deakin,
Kenny Larkin,
Camouflage,
Peter & Gordon,
Nils Olav,
Amazonics,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Bill Wells,
Ten City,
CMW,
Pussy Galore,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Fall,
Skriet,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Skaos,
The Standells,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Nirvana,
Los Fastidios,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Eve St. Jones,
The Pretty Things,
Mad Mike,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sound,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
In Retrospect,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.