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 Sri Lanka and from Sao Paulo.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Fugs to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Newcleus. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yellowson 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sparks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
Skriet,
Cybotron,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rakim,
The Divine Comedy,
Rosa Yemen,
Black Moon,
The Blackbyrds,
Fort Wilson Riot,
MC5,
Dorothy Ashby,
B.T. Express,
Jeff Mills,
The Seeds,
The American Breed,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Mojo Men,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Iggy Pop,
FM Einheit,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Rapeman,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Motorama,
Nick Fraelich,
Anthony Braxton,
China Crisis,
David Axelrod,
Glenn Branca,
Junior Murvin,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Wally Richardson,
Chris Corsano,
Eric Dolphy,
Ossler,
Blossom Toes,
Bobby Womack,
Dual Sessions,
Gang Green,
Infiniti,
Agitation Free,
Ultravox,
Todd Rundgren,
Joey Negro,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Cure,
Al Stewart,
The Star Department,
Joy Division,
Los Fastidios,
Flash Fearless,
Country Teasers,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jeff Lynne,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.