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 South Sudan and from Bologna.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 The Pop Group to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Ituana. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slick Rick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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 Offenders,
Rufus Thomas,
The American Breed,
The Doors,
Groovy Waters,
10cc,
Absolute Body Control,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bush Tetras,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ice-T,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Walker Brothers,
Al Stewart,
The Red Krayola,
Tomorrow,
Spoonie Gee,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lalann,
Scientists,
Dennis Brown,
Das Ding,
the Normal,
Vladislav Delay,
Chris & Cosey,
Brothers Johnson,
The New Christs,
Trumans Water,
Skriet,
Nirvana,
F. McDonald,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Grass Roots,
Television Personalities,
Quadrant,
K-Klass,
Aswad,
The Monks,
The Saints,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cybotron,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Max Romeo,
Graham Central Station,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Youth Brigade,
Grey Daturas,
cv313,
ABBA,
Maleditus Sound,
OOIOO,
E-Dancer,
The Golliwogs,
John Foxx,
Bobby Sherman,
Sandy B,
Subhumans,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Slackers,
The Music Machine,
Section 25, Section 25, Section 25, Section 25.
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.