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 Belize and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Radiohead to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Rhythm & Sound. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Judy Mowatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
Glambeats Corp.,
Donny Hathaway,
Spandau Ballet,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ice-T,
The Doobie Brothers,
Trumans Water,
The Gladiators,
Soulsonic Force,
Deepchord,
Stetsasonic,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Neon Judgement,
Moebius,
The Beau Brummels,
Suicide,
Blancmange,
Public Image Ltd.,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Swans,
Althea and Donna,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Yazoo,
Minutemen,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Cluster,
Nation of Ulysses,
John Cale,
Mr. Review,
The Tremeloes,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Scan 7,
Mark Hollis,
The Associates,
ABC,
The Cramps,
World's Most,
Eric Copeland,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Nick Fraelich,
Stockholm Monsters,
Scion,
Avey Tare,
U.S. Maple,
Bluetip,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Misunderstood,
Rhythm & Sound,
Agitation Free,
Pole,
Carl Craig,
Eli Mardock,
The Last Poets,
The Real Kids,
Frankie Knuckles,
Magazine,
the Slits,
The American Breed,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.