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 Lesotho and from Lille.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 guitar 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 The J.B.'s to the punk 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 Royal Trux. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Fania All-Stars 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Boz Scaggs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Flock of Seagulls,
Chris Corsano,
Swans,
Clear Light,
The Modern Lovers,
Peter and Kerry,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Marcia Griffiths,
Graham Central Station,
L. Decosne,
Stiv Bators,
Radio Birdman,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Moss Icon,
Dark Day,
Newcleus,
Technova,
Jeff Lynne,
The Blues Magoos,
Lakeside,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nation of Ulysses,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Maleditus Sound,
Simply Red,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
the Slits,
Derrick May,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ohio Players,
Eddi Front,
The Mummies,
Bill Wells,
Deepchord,
Crooked Eye,
Q and Not U,
Bauhaus,
Judy Mowatt,
the Bar-Kays,
MC5,
Albert Ayler,
the Swans,
X-Ray Spex,
Sun City Girls,
The Wake,
Liliput,
ABC,
The Trojans,
Minnie Riperton,
Zapp,
The Velvet Underground,
Aswad,
Lungfish,
Japan,
The Leaves,
Eli Mardock,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Radiopuhelimet,
Bill Near,
One Last Wish,
The Angels of Light,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.