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 Peru and from Beijing.
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 Winnipeg and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Kevin Saunderson to the rap 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 Lou Reed. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Icehouse record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Faust,
the Germs,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kayak,
Wally Richardson,
New Order,
Clear Light,
Loose Ends,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Joensuu 1685,
Barbara Tucker,
Connie Case,
Vladislav Delay,
The Names,
Lou Christie,
Sparks,
Q65,
Khruangbin,
Johnny Clarke,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Mojo Men,
Alice Coltrane,
Jeff Mills,
One Last Wish,
OOIOO,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Jerry's Kids,
The Slits,
Erykah Badu,
The Associates,
Smog,
Chrome,
Sugar Minott,
The Doobie Brothers,
The American Breed,
The Pretty Things,
Drexciya,
Judy Mowatt,
X-101,
Parry Music,
The Music Machine,
Talk Talk,
Lou Reed,
The Tremeloes,
Patti Smith,
Bobby Womack,
Barrington Levy,
Qualms,
The Techniques,
Crooked Eye,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Underground Resistance,
Bad Manners,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.