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 El Salvador and from Columbus.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Moleskins to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All In Retrospect tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Panda Bear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pole,
The Tremeloes,
John Holt,
Can,
Eden Ahbez,
The Monochrome Set,
Organ,
Interpol,
Accadde A,
Aloha Tigers,
Lee Hazlewood,
Jawbox,
The Standells,
David McCallum,
Jacob Miller,
The Electric Prunes,
Eve St. Jones,
Sugar Minott,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Offenders,
Soul Sonic Force,
Gabor Szabo,
Zero Boys,
The Buckinghams,
E-Dancer,
John Cale,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Stooges,
Cheater Slicks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Brothers Johnson,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Star Department,
June of 44,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rotary Connection,
Archie Shepp,
Urselle,
These Immortal Souls,
Severed Heads,
Alison Limerick,
D'Angelo,
A Certain Ratio,
The Evens,
Pet Shop Boys,
Essential Logic,
Subhumans,
The Searchers,
Stetsasonic,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Drive Like Jehu,
Scrapy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Average White Band,
Pylon,
Camouflage,
Nas,
Mars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.