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 Bolivia and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Angry Samoans to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Flesh Eaters. All the underground hits.
All X-102 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a synthesizer and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agent Orange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
Nas,
The Motions,
Black Sheep,
Arcadia,
Joy Division,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Blues Magoos,
Mandrill,
Anakelly,
Ten City,
Lungfish,
Wire,
Avey Tare,
Hashim,
Isaac Hayes,
Jeff Mills,
Jacques Brel,
10cc,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sun City Girls,
Ken Boothe,
Shoche,
The Slackers,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Big Daddy Kane,
These Immortal Souls,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Grass Roots,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Mars,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Supertramp,
Cameo,
Wolf Eyes,
Subhumans,
Section 25,
Swell Maps,
Swans,
Idris Muhammad,
the Normal,
Althea and Donna,
Fluxion,
Gong,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Evens,
Soul II Soul,
Black Pus,
Soul Sonic Force,
Parry Music,
Quando Quango,
Minutemen,
Magazine,
Pierre Henry,
Accadde A,
The Vogues,
The Divine Comedy,
Model 500,
Rotary Connection,
Tubeway Army,
Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo.
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.