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 Russia and from Bologna.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 güiro 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 The Smiths to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tubeway Army,
Tom Boy,
Das Ding,
Skarface,
Television,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Thee Headcoats,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Thompson Twins,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Sound,
The Divine Comedy,
Clear Light,
Sex Pistols,
Popol Vuh,
Wasted Youth,
Arcadia,
David Axelrod,
Joensuu 1685,
Morten Harket,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Evens,
The Birthday Party,
Drexciya,
The Fugs,
Sly & The Family Stone,
New Order,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Interpol,
The Blackbyrds,
MC5,
Dennis Brown,
Rapeman,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kenny Larkin,
Iggy Pop,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Kinks,
The Gap Band,
Pharoah Sanders,
Magazine,
Gregory Isaacs,
Amon Düül II,
Organ,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Barracudas,
Terry Callier,
Quadrant,
Brick,
Rakim,
Yaz,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Pierre Henry,
Blake Baxter,
Todd Terry,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Derrick May,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.