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 Tanzania and from Portland.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the organ 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 Inner City to the grime 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 Pantytec. All the underground hits.
All Maleditus Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Neon Judgement,
Technova,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lungfish,
Peter and Kerry,
Glambeats Corp.,
Dead Boys,
Byron Stingily,
PIL,
Peter & Gordon,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Excepter,
X-102,
Althea and Donna,
World's Most,
Panda Bear,
Deakin,
LL Cool J,
Joe Smooth,
Traffic Nightmare,
Derrick Morgan,
Camberwell Now,
DNA,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Human League,
Magma,
Dawn Penn,
Lucky Dragons,
Bill Near,
Lower 48,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Rekid,
Avey Tare,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Man Parrish,
FM Einheit,
Delta 5,
Liliput,
Jeff Lynne,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Black Sheep,
Intrusion,
Pantytec,
Metal Thangz,
Fad Gadget,
Sound Behaviour,
Das Ding,
Quadrant,
MC5,
Babytalk,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Anthony Braxton,
Junior Murvin,
Newcleus,
John Cale,
Bad Manners,
Cecil Taylor,
Bobby Byrd,
Zero Boys,
Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses, Nation of Ulysses.
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.