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 Tonga and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Anthony Braxton to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Sexual Harrassment tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quadrant record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Camberwell Now,
Barrington Levy,
Jimmy McGriff,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Index,
Frankie Knuckles,
Anthony Braxton,
The Durutti Column,
Susan Cadogan,
Todd Terry,
Sly & The Family Stone,
June Days,
Fluxion,
Mandrill,
Chris & Cosey,
Fugazi,
The Sonics,
The Monks,
kango's stein massive,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Subhumans,
Boz Scaggs,
F. McDonald,
AZ,
The Red Krayola,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The United States of America,
The Zeros,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Real Kids,
Cameo,
X-101,
Black Pus,
Isaac Hayes,
Trumans Water,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Popol Vuh,
Country Teasers,
Ornette Coleman,
Dawn Penn,
Sarah Menescal,
Alton Ellis,
David Bowie,
Black Flag,
Eurythmics,
Suicide,
Crooked Eye,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lakeside,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Little Man,
T. Rex,
Piero Umiliani,
Nick Fraelich,
Jerry's Kids,
Scientists,
Kas Product,
Yaz,
Derrick Morgan,
Schoolly D,
DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak.
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.