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 Samoa and from Milan.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the theremin 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 Amazonics to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flamin' Groovies,
Gang Gang Dance,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
OOIOO,
Accadde A,
Juan Atkins,
Boz Scaggs,
Lower 48,
Main Source,
Kurtis Blow,
Susan Cadogan,
Faust,
Nico,
the Association,
Pierre Henry,
Smog,
Mad Mike,
Public Enemy,
Gichy Dan,
Pantaleimon,
Unwound,
Heaven 17,
Mantronix,
Urselle,
Stereo Dub,
Fluxion,
Rod Modell,
Kool Moe Dee,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Stetsasonic,
Ohio Players,
Funkadelic,
The Barracudas,
Drexciya,
The Red Krayola,
Ultra Naté,
Jeff Lynne,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Organ,
Mars,
B.T. Express,
Terry Callier,
Tom Boy,
The Last Poets,
Depeche Mode,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ultimate Spinach,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
F. McDonald,
Rotary Connection,
Jeru the Damaja,
John Foxx,
Scan 7,
Pole,
The Index,
The Residents,
The Buckinghams,
The Slits,
The Real Kids,
Anakelly,
The Durutti Column,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cameo,
Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids.
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.