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 Marshall Islands 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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the güiro 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 Fat Boys to the jazz 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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Ice-T tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Franke,
The Residents,
The Wake,
Barry Ungar,
Urselle,
Qualms,
Suburban Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Howard Jones,
Minny Pops,
The Birthday Party,
Josef K,
Jeff Mills,
Los Fastidios,
The Sound,
Masters at Work,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Offenders,
The Busters,
Rites of Spring,
Infiniti,
Eve St. Jones,
Yusef Lateef,
Jimmy McGriff,
Erykah Badu,
Pole,
Drive Like Jehu,
Model 500,
Deepchord,
Eric Copeland,
Todd Rundgren,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Drexciya,
Rapeman,
Crime,
Swans,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Associates,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Roxette,
Banda Bassotti,
UT,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kenny Larkin,
Joey Negro,
Zapp,
The Last Poets,
The Seeds,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Liliput,
Michelle Simonal,
Clear Light,
Stereo Dub,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Carl Craig,
Stiv Bators,
Black Flag,
Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T.
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.