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 Belize and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 E-Dancer to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New Order,
Jacob Miller,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Royal Trux,
The Pretty Things,
The Standells,
Heaven 17,
The Evens,
the Sonics,
Lyres,
Josef K,
Lee Hazlewood,
Tim Buckley,
The Doors,
The Cure,
The Fuzztones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
L. Decosne,
Sarah Menescal,
Saccharine Trust,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sandy B,
Black Bananas,
Youth Brigade,
the Bar-Kays,
Zapp,
Panda Bear,
Isaac Hayes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rites of Spring,
Niagra,
Kurtis Blow,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Gang Gang Dance,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Can,
The Trojans,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Fire Engines,
Mary Jane Girls,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Unwound,
Oneida,
Pussy Galore,
Black Moon,
The New Christs,
Tropical Tobacco,
Simply Red,
The Gladiators,
Surgeon,
Sonic Youth,
Visage,
FM Einheit,
Wally Richardson,
The Leaves,
Junior Murvin,
DNA,
Moby Grape,
T. Rex,
Scrapy,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Urselle,
Grauzone,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.