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 Comoros and from Lyon.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Lightning Bolt to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sound. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Hashim,
Little Man,
Rakim,
Underground Resistance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Subhumans,
Simply Red,
In Retrospect,
Monks,
Ludus,
Second Layer,
The Kinks,
The Fall,
Half Japanese,
DJ Style,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Nation of Ulysses,
Barbara Tucker,
Nik Kershaw,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Beau Brummels,
B.T. Express,
Interpol,
The Monks,
Lucky Dragons,
The Velvet Underground,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Susan Cadogan,
Lower 48,
the Human League,
One Last Wish,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sun Ra,
Sonic Youth,
Make Up,
Man Eating Sloth,
Derrick May,
Wasted Youth,
Tears for Fears,
Agitation Free,
The Mojo Men,
D'Angelo,
Nils Olav,
Marshall Jefferson,
X-Ray Spex,
Q65,
Wings,
Chris & Cosey,
The Cramps,
Silicon Teens,
The Offenders,
Camberwell Now,
Grauzone,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Johnny Clarke,
Index,
John Holt,
Excepter,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock.
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.