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 Iceland and from Stockholm.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Ossler to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a KRS-One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
Idris Muhammad,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Hashim,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Walker Brothers,
Basic Channel,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fear,
MC5,
Sun Ra,
John Coltrane,
Q and Not U,
Aswad,
Ponytail,
The Dead C,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Pop Group,
Eden Ahbez,
The New Christs,
Metal Thangz,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Doors,
Wings,
Shuggie Otis,
Monolake,
Black Pus,
Joensuu 1685,
Scion,
Roy Ayers,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Peter and Kerry,
Yazoo,
Au Pairs,
Cameo,
Black Moon,
The Names,
John Holt,
D'Angelo,
The Dirtbombs,
Reuben Wilson,
Amon Düül,
Skarface,
PIL,
Ituana,
Gregory Isaacs,
Soft Cell,
Wire,
The Associates,
Marmalade,
Eric Copeland,
the Bar-Kays,
Mary Jane Girls,
Suicide,
Main Source,
Glenn Branca,
Traffic Nightmare,
Niagra,
Lyres,
The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams.
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.