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 Tanzania and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Cosmic Jokers 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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All Aural Exciters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deepchord record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jimmy McGriff record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
The Invisible,
The United States of America,
Marshall Jefferson,
Agitation Free,
The Pretty Things,
The Offenders,
Masters at Work,
Kool Moe Dee,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Slick Rick,
Black Bananas,
Agent Orange,
Idris Muhammad,
Yusef Lateef,
John Coltrane,
Amon Düül II,
Eurythmics,
Tom Boy,
The Beau Brummels,
the Slits,
Sandy B,
EPMD,
June Days,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Angry Samoans,
Rufus Thomas,
Joyce Sims,
Echospace,
Mr. Review,
The Leaves,
Blancmange,
Juan Atkins,
Scion,
Siglo XX,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Knickerbockers,
Dawn Penn,
Hasil Adkins,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bronski Beat,
Gang of Four,
The Last Poets,
The Durutti Column,
David McCallum,
Fluxion,
Model 500,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ultra Naté,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Khruangbin,
the Sonics,
Colin Newman,
Visage,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Lightning Bolt,
Procol Harum,
The Golliwogs,
Young Marble Giants,
Hashim, Hashim, Hashim, Hashim.
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.