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 Armenia 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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
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 Reagan Youth to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All The Moleskins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fugs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Franke,
Aaron Thompson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Public Enemy,
Agitation Free,
Khruangbin,
The Gories,
Charles Mingus,
The Slits,
Moss Icon,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Beau Brummels,
Y Pants,
Eric B and Rakim,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Eli Mardock,
Tom Boy,
Reagan Youth,
The Slackers,
Donald Byrd,
Procol Harum,
Gichy Dan,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Motions,
Soft Machine,
The Toasters,
Kevin Saunderson,
Suicide,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Liliput,
World's Most,
Fugazi,
10cc,
The Walker Brothers,
Scott Walker,
a-ha,
Minnie Riperton,
LL Cool J,
The Dead C,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Hoover,
Quadrant,
Skriet,
The Monochrome Set,
Cymande,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Gap Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Wally Richardson,
Black Bananas,
The Buckinghams,
Guru Guru,
Model 500,
X-Ray Spex,
Easy Going,
Soulsonic Force,
Fat Boys,
Main Source,
Wire, Wire, Wire, Wire.
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.