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 Czech Republic and from Spokane.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Sight & Sound 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 The Motions. All the underground hits.
All Cymande tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Smog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funky Four + One,
The Five Americans,
the Slits,
Carl Craig,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Mary Jane Girls,
Television Personalities,
Bobby Sherman,
The Birthday Party,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Joyce Sims,
the Human League,
Country Teasers,
The Golliwogs,
Jeff Mills,
Josef K,
The Real Kids,
Swell Maps,
Basic Channel,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Spandau Ballet,
Boredoms,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Buckinghams,
Wally Richardson,
Ultra Naté,
The American Breed,
Barrington Levy,
Lee Hazlewood,
Robert Görl,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bluetip,
Masters at Work,
Donny Hathaway,
Terry Callier,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mission of Burma,
Howard Jones,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Byron Stingily,
The Sonics,
These Immortal Souls,
Faust,
OOIOO,
T.S.O.L.,
Rotary Connection,
Ultravox,
Mantronix,
Sight & Sound,
The Pretty Things,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Aswad,
In Retrospect,
Leonard Cohen,
Jeru the Damaja,
Fatback Band,
Faraquet,
Sixth Finger,
Selector Dub Narcotic, Selector Dub Narcotic, Selector Dub Narcotic, Selector Dub Narcotic.
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.