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 Montenegro and from Philadelphia.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Derrick Morgan to the crunk 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 The Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pylon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Infiniti,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Zero Boys,
These Immortal Souls,
Wasted Youth,
Smog,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Half Japanese,
Yusef Lateef,
Quantec,
Blossom Toes,
Wally Richardson,
Eve St. Jones,
The Five Americans,
Marvin Gaye,
The Fugs,
John Foxx,
DJ Style,
Sandy B,
Cal Tjader,
The Residents,
Nirvana,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Sun City Girls,
Hardrive,
Kool Moe Dee,
Archie Shepp,
Porter Ricks,
Section 25,
Skaos,
Kurtis Blow,
Stockholm Monsters,
Scott Walker,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Connie Case,
One Last Wish,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Black Sheep,
Arab on Radar,
Anthony Braxton,
Jacques Brel,
Nas,
The Dirtbombs,
Al Stewart,
ABC,
Gang of Four,
The Blues Magoos,
James White and The Blacks,
John Cale,
Stiv Bators,
Bauhaus,
Wolf Eyes,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lou Reed,
Hasil Adkins, Hasil Adkins, Hasil Adkins, Hasil Adkins.
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.