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 Macedonia and from Jakarta.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 synthesizer 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 Pussy Galore to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Joy Division. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blues Magoos,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ultimate Spinach,
K-Klass,
These Immortal Souls,
Anthony Braxton,
Howard Jones,
D'Angelo,
Television,
The Fire Engines,
Maleditus Sound,
The Angels of Light,
The Cowsills,
Barrington Levy,
the Association,
Dennis Brown,
Pere Ubu,
Grey Daturas,
Livin' Joy,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Subhumans,
Grandmaster Flash,
Visage,
Faraquet,
Chris Corsano,
Niagra,
Reagan Youth,
Eddi Front,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Silicon Teens,
Rhythm & Sound,
Patti Smith,
Soul II Soul,
Maurizio,
8 Eyed Spy,
Tomorrow,
The Gap Band,
The Leaves,
Swans,
Joyce Sims,
Alphaville,
Kas Product,
DJ Style,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
MC5,
Dorothy Ashby,
June of 44,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cramps,
James White and The Blacks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Television Personalities,
Scientists,
Mars,
Minutemen,
The Tremeloes,
Neil Young,
DJ Sneak,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Section 25,
The Golliwogs,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.