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 Equatorial Guinea and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the guitar 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 Robert Görl 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 The Jesus and Mary Chain. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Joe & The Fish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kevin Saunderson,
Electric Prunes,
Lindisfarne,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joy Division,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Slits,
Mars,
Scratch Acid,
Boz Scaggs,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Swell Maps,
Camouflage,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Visage,
David Axelrod,
Delta 5,
Depeche Mode,
Arab on Radar,
The Count Five,
The Vogues,
Con Funk Shun,
ABBA,
Soul Sonic Force,
48th St. Collective,
Be Bop Deluxe,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Robert Wyatt,
The Real Kids,
Arthur Verocai,
Kerri Chandler,
Monks,
Jacob Miller,
The Electric Prunes,
Clear Light,
The Move,
Thompson Twins,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Prince Buster,
Ituana,
T. Rex,
Negative Approach,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Can,
The Buckinghams,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The United States of America,
Black Flag,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Ice-T,
The Gladiators,
New York Dolls,
Deakin,
Motorama,
The Young Rascals,
D'Angelo,
The Gap Band,
Nick Fraelich,
The Smiths,
Porter Ricks,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.