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 Togo and from Hong Kong.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 Sonny Sharrock to the grime 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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Half Japanese record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a DNA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Names,
Lakeside,
Duran Duran,
Young Marble Giants,
Kurtis Blow,
Siglo XX,
Gang of Four,
Saccharine Trust,
Man Eating Sloth,
Scion,
Easy Going,
Nas,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fatback Band,
Scientists,
Minor Threat,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Hashim,
Amazonics,
Sun Ra,
Michelle Simonal,
Rites of Spring,
Rosa Yemen,
Erasure,
The Barracudas,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mantronix,
Technova,
Motorama,
Livin' Joy,
Whodini,
EPMD,
Erykah Badu,
Bill Wells,
Sällskapet,
Ronan,
The Cowsills,
Colin Newman,
Brass Construction,
The New Christs,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Minutemen,
Television Personalities,
Pylon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ossler,
Mars,
Glambeats Corp.,
Skaos,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Knickerbockers,
Ice-T,
Andrew Hill,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Audionom,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Stooges,
China Crisis,
David Axelrod,
Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich.
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.