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 Uzbekistan and from Jakarta.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Beau Brummels to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kaleidoscope record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lightning Bolt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Wake,
Pere Ubu,
The Cure,
Fluxion,
The Mummies,
The Stooges,
Anakelly,
The Dave Clark Five,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Fortunes,
Lindisfarne,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Outsiders,
Yusef Lateef,
Tres Demented,
Essential Logic,
The Neon Judgement,
Marshall Jefferson,
This Heat,
The Gun Club,
Bob Dylan,
Marmalade,
Soulsonic Force,
John Coltrane,
a-ha,
R.M.O.,
Bauhaus,
Lalann,
Toni Rubio,
Sandy B,
Q65,
Don Cherry,
Soft Machine,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Associates,
Brick,
The Vogues,
Smog,
Gil Scott Heron,
Royal Trux,
Andrew Hill,
Scion,
Bad Manners,
Howard Jones,
Con Funk Shun,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Albert Ayler,
T. Rex,
Piero Umiliani,
Wire,
Robert Wyatt,
Byron Stingily,
The Modern Lovers,
David Axelrod,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
June of 44,
the Normal,
The Cramps,
Alison Limerick,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jerry's Kids,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.