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 Bolivia 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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Josef K to the rap 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 The Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rod Modell 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Angry Samoans,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Barry Ungar,
Interpol,
Scrapy,
Crispian St. Peters,
Eurythmics,
Hardrive,
Amon Düül,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jacob Miller,
The Vogues,
Matthew Halsall,
Clear Light,
Young Marble Giants,
the Bar-Kays,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Joe Smooth,
The Sound,
Procol Harum,
Joy Division,
Drexciya,
In Retrospect,
Little Man,
Shuggie Otis,
Bang On A Can,
Bill Wells,
KRS-One,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mission of Burma,
The Flesh Eaters,
Country Teasers,
Gang Starr,
Avey Tare,
The Motions,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Soft Cell,
Black Moon,
Cecil Taylor,
The Walker Brothers,
Soft Cell,
Scott Walker,
Harmonia,
Nirvana,
James White and The Blacks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
cv313,
Severed Heads,
FM Einheit,
Public Image Ltd.,
Porter Ricks,
Lou Christie,
The Angels of Light,
Sex Pistols,
Hot Snakes,
Agent Orange,
Easy Going,
Hasil Adkins,
Banda Bassotti,
John Foxx,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.