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 Mexico and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Japan to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Associates record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
AZ,
Underground Resistance,
Das Ding,
Delon & Dalcan,
Brass Construction,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Blake Baxter,
Throbbing Gristle,
Radiohead,
Ultravox,
Schoolly D,
Sam Rivers,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Sound,
Al Stewart,
Mars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bootsy Collins,
Ultra Naté,
Byron Stingily,
Nirvana,
Tommy Roe,
Section 25,
X-Ray Spex,
Royal Trux,
Marvin Gaye,
Fela Kuti,
The Pop Group,
Mo-Dettes,
Joy Division,
The Fall,
Sun City Girls,
The Trojans,
Janne Schatter,
Cameo,
Mad Mike,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Suicide,
Colin Newman,
Man Parrish,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Star Department,
Harry Pussy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Fatback Band,
Gang Green,
Eric Dolphy,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Fortunes,
Dark Day,
Toni Rubio,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Simply Red,
Blossom Toes,
DNA,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
the Association,
Ronan,
Vladislav Delay,
Public Enemy,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.