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 Andorra and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 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 Ponytail to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zapp 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Q and Not U record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Evens,
Sexual Harrassment,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Vogues,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Das Ding,
The Skatalites,
Harpers Bizarre,
Little Man,
Brass Construction,
Amazonics,
A Certain Ratio,
the Swans,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Shuggie Otis,
Alton Ellis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Interpol,
Ten City,
The Black Dice,
Livin' Joy,
Juan Atkins,
Pole,
Jesper Dahlback,
Desert Stars,
Moby Grape,
Panda Bear,
Siglo XX,
Isaac Hayes,
The Sonics,
Traffic Nightmare,
Stereo Dub,
Freddie Wadling,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Neu!,
The Blues Magoos,
Index,
The Grass Roots,
Groovy Waters,
X-101,
Eli Mardock,
Judy Mowatt,
Kerri Chandler,
Model 500,
Audionom,
Angry Samoans,
DJ Style,
Hashim,
Electric Prunes,
Minutemen,
Cheater Slicks,
The Velvet Underground,
The Standells,
The Cure,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Searchers,
Kenny Larkin,
Au Pairs,
Darondo,
the Bar-Kays,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.