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 Croatia and from Mexico City.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the snare 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 the Slits to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Gabor Szabo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tim Buckley record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agitation Free,
Graham Central Station,
The Martian,
PIL,
Deadbeat,
David McCallum,
Excepter,
Brand Nubian,
Lucky Dragons,
The Durutti Column,
The Doobie Brothers,
Japan,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Index,
Barry Ungar,
Crooked Eye,
Gong,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Half Japanese,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Golliwogs,
The Neon Judgement,
Barrington Levy,
Eve St. Jones,
The Five Americans,
Popol Vuh,
Mars,
AZ,
The Count Five,
Lalo Schifrin,
Echospace,
Gang Gang Dance,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Moss Icon,
Procol Harum,
Jeru the Damaja,
Roxette,
Gregory Isaacs,
Johnny Osbourne,
Motorama,
Can,
Iggy Pop,
Rufus Thomas,
Negative Approach,
Audionom,
Pole,
Wally Richardson,
DJ Sneak,
Dual Sessions,
Matthew Halsall,
John Cale,
Henry Cow,
Sound Behaviour,
Y Pants,
Delon & Dalcan,
Das Ding,
The Fugs,
Nirvana,
Neil Young,
Harry Pussy,
The Saints,
Shuggie Otis,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.