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 Croatia and from New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dead Boys to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lee Hazlewood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fear,
The Sonics,
Deepchord,
Excepter,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
MC5,
Gang Gang Dance,
Scrapy,
The Monks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Drexciya,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Brick,
Ice-T,
Eric Dolphy,
Colin Newman,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Organ,
Altered Images,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Radiopuhelimet,
Grey Daturas,
Flipper,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
T.S.O.L.,
New Order,
Skaos,
the Slits,
Suicide,
A Flock of Seagulls,
ABC,
Monks,
Clear Light,
Amon Düül,
Marshall Jefferson,
New Age Steppers,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ludus,
Quando Quango,
the Germs,
The Fall,
Von Mondo,
The Fugs,
Barbara Tucker,
Sonic Youth,
Nas,
Y Pants,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Basic Channel,
Electric Prunes,
Khruangbin,
Joensuu 1685,
Jandek,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Aswad,
Junior Murvin,
Stetsasonic,
CMW,
Moebius,
Ultra Naté,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.