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 Zambia and from Portland.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 guitar 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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra Arkestra 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mummies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dark Day,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Average White Band,
Mark Hollis,
Glambeats Corp.,
Rapeman,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Loose Ends,
Jacob Miller,
Ultra Naté,
Girls At Our Best!,
Blake Baxter,
Fatback Band,
The Pop Group,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Chris Corsano,
James White and The Blacks,
Tomorrow,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Shuggie Otis,
Ludus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Moleskins,
Matthew Halsall,
Black Bananas,
The Neon Judgement,
Don Cherry,
Sun Ra,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Eric Dolphy,
Soul II Soul,
K-Klass,
Panda Bear,
Excepter,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Seeds,
Roxy Music,
The Vogues,
The Gories,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Lindisfarne,
This Heat,
The Birthday Party,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lightning Bolt,
Sun City Girls,
The Detroit Cobras,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Pylon,
Crispy Ambulance,
Wolf Eyes,
Mantronix,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bush Tetras,
Mo-Dettes,
Todd Terry,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Alphaville,
T.S.O.L.,
Y Pants,
Bobby Womack,
Magma, Magma, Magma, Magma.
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.