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 Tonga and from Woodstock.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Make Up to the punk 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bob Dylan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lungfish,
Derrick Morgan,
Marine Girls,
Y Pants,
Fugazi,
Chris Corsano,
the Association,
Don Cherry,
Matthew Bourne,
The Fortunes,
Pantaleimon,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Guru Guru,
JFA,
The Standells,
Nik Kershaw,
Sister Nancy,
Rufus Thomas,
the Germs,
The Gladiators,
Fear,
Eden Ahbez,
The Blues Magoos,
Danielle Patucci,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Wally Richardson,
Rhythm & Sound,
Excepter,
Angry Samoans,
PIL,
Laurel Aitken,
Stetsasonic,
Piero Umiliani,
Arab on Radar,
The Slackers,
Sam Rivers,
Scientists,
Boz Scaggs,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Buckinghams,
The Gories,
Mandrill,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Juan Atkins,
Black Bananas,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Modern Lovers,
Alice Coltrane,
The Toasters,
Barclay James Harvest,
Yusef Lateef,
Can,
Adolescents,
X-102,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Buzzcocks,
Bob Dylan,
David McCallum,
Fela Kuti,
Andrew Hill,
Bobby Byrd,
Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson.
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.