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 Liberia and from Madrid.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sad Lovers and Giants to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Mo-Dettes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aloha Tigers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Stockholm Monsters,
Thompson Twins,
Soul II Soul,
B.T. Express,
Amazonics,
the Swans,
The Techniques,
The Remains,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Scrapy,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Motions,
Bush Tetras,
Neil Young,
Curtis Mayfield,
Index,
Young Marble Giants,
Barbara Tucker,
Fatback Band,
Oneida,
The Victims,
Reagan Youth,
Visage,
Harpers Bizarre,
Negative Approach,
Lakeside,
The Durutti Column,
The Slackers,
Motorama,
The Golliwogs,
the Soft Cell,
Crash Course in Science,
Brand Nubian,
Moby Grape,
Dark Day,
K-Klass,
Minutemen,
Television Personalities,
Sixth Finger,
The Fortunes,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Velvet Underground,
Drive Like Jehu,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Sonics,
Althea and Donna,
Grauzone,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Todd Rundgren,
Pharoah Sanders,
Brothers Johnson,
Lee Hazlewood,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Duran Duran,
Mandrill,
Jimmy McGriff,
China Crisis,
Desert Stars,
JFA,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.