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 Samoa and from Beijing.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Five Americans to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Cramps. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions 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 a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Holt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Altered Images,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
cv313,
X-102,
Minor Threat,
Model 500,
Charles Mingus,
Joensuu 1685,
Danielle Patucci,
Piero Umiliani,
CMW,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Iggy Pop,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sonic Youth,
Erasure,
Derrick May,
Scan 7,
Lindisfarne,
Grey Daturas,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Gang of Four,
World's Most,
Minny Pops,
Japan,
The Velvet Underground,
Spandau Ballet,
The Divine Comedy,
Wally Richardson,
Robert Wyatt,
The United States of America,
David McCallum,
a-ha,
Surgeon,
Tommy Roe,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Bill Near,
Swans,
T.S.O.L.,
The Durutti Column,
June of 44,
The Mojo Men,
Gang Gang Dance,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
ABC,
Brothers Johnson,
The Busters,
Glenn Branca,
Malaria!,
the Association,
Skaos,
MC5,
Kurtis Blow,
Symarip,
The Slits,
The J.B.'s,
Roger Hodgson,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Livin' Joy,
Das Ding,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.