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 Madagascar and from Mumbai.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Q65 to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ronnie Foster,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Knickerbockers,
Junior Murvin,
Marmalade,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Godley & Creme,
Minutemen,
David Axelrod,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Sound,
Bob Dylan,
John Lydon,
Surgeon,
Absolute Body Control,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Gladiators,
Malaria!,
Y Pants,
The Wake,
Bluetip,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jandek,
Matthew Halsall,
Reuben Wilson,
Howard Jones,
Khruangbin,
Dave Gahan,
Intrusion,
James White and The Blacks,
Kenny Larkin,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
R.M.O.,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
a-ha,
The Grass Roots,
FM Einheit,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
David McCallum,
John Cale,
LL Cool J,
The Shadows of Knight,
Carl Craig,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Bush Tetras,
Yusef Lateef,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Sonics,
The Flesh Eaters,
DNA,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Derrick May,
Danielle Patucci,
Aural Exciters,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ituana,
Colin Newman,
The Durutti Column, The Durutti Column, The Durutti Column, The Durutti Column.
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.