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 Belarus and from Lagos.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Maurizio to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All Buzzcocks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gang of Four,
Ralphi Rosario,
Suburban Knight,
Glenn Branca,
The Gun Club,
Make Up,
The Human League,
The Monks,
The Monochrome Set,
Ronnie Foster,
Lou Reed,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Basic Channel,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Bad Manners,
The Remains,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mad Mike,
The Mummies,
JFA,
The Raincoats,
Tim Buckley,
Bobby Byrd,
Peter & Gordon,
Harry Pussy,
Lower 48,
Wally Richardson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Robert Görl,
Sugar Minott,
Von Mondo,
Cybotron,
Nico,
Niagra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wasted Youth,
Amon Düül II,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Electric Prunes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Buzzcocks,
Alphaville,
Agitation Free,
Idris Muhammad,
Crash Course in Science,
Boz Scaggs,
Barry Ungar,
Mars,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Victims,
Quando Quango,
Matthew Bourne,
London Community Gospel Choir,
David Bowie,
The Blackbyrds,
Johnny Clarke,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques.
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.