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 Ethiopia and from Lille.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Essential Logic to the grime 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 Scratch Acid. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aaron Thompson 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Loose Ends record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Subhumans,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bill Near,
The Dead C,
Howard Jones,
Gang of Four,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Jawbox,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
X-101,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Saccharine Trust,
Qualms,
In Retrospect,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Section 25,
10cc,
Audionom,
Mantronix,
Surgeon,
The Buckinghams,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Magma,
Depeche Mode,
Unwound,
The Velvet Underground,
Rod Modell,
Newcleus,
Lightning Bolt,
Bobby Sherman,
Lakeside,
Black Pus,
Sonny Sharrock,
Funkadelic,
Siglo XX,
Todd Terry,
Curtis Mayfield,
EPMD,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Kurtis Blow,
Janne Schatter,
Lou Reed,
Alison Limerick,
John Coltrane,
Tres Demented,
Circle Jerks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Joe Smooth,
UT,
Charles Mingus,
The Invisible,
Theoretical Girls,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Eric B and Rakim,
H. Thieme,
Drexciya,
the Soft Cell,
The Sonics,
Thee Headcoats,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.