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 Latvia and from Cairo.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe 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 Ajijia Myrayebe to the dance 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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All The Cramps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Public Image Ltd.,
New York Dolls,
Ronnie Foster,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Arthur Verocai,
Grandmaster Flash,
Scrapy,
The Index,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Minor Threat,
Nick Fraelich,
Angry Samoans,
Average White Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Cal Tjader,
Gong,
Nik Kershaw,
Bobby Womack,
Sarah Menescal,
KRS-One,
Magma,
The Mojo Men,
Moss Icon,
Mo-Dettes,
Fluxion,
Susan Cadogan,
Sparks,
David McCallum,
Man Parrish,
The Techniques,
Yazoo,
Little Man,
Suicide,
Agitation Free,
The Tremeloes,
Youth Brigade,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
DNA,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Kenny Larkin,
The Divine Comedy,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Section 25,
Reagan Youth,
Judy Mowatt,
Isaac Hayes,
Matthew Halsall,
Sugar Minott,
Visage,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Music Machine,
Fad Gadget,
Underground Resistance,
Glambeats Corp.,
Talk Talk,
Erasure,
Harmonia,
The Kinks,
Hoover,
Josef K,
Make Up,
Quantec, Quantec, Quantec, Quantec.
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.