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 Mexico and from London.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Nation of Ulysses to the dance 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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All Blossom Toes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Girls At Our Best! 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?
Accadde A,
Judy Mowatt,
Arcadia,
Faust,
Banda Bassotti,
Isaac Hayes,
Kayak,
Moebius,
Bauhaus,
Agitation Free,
The Litter,
8 Eyed Spy,
Idris Muhammad,
Simply Red,
Mary Jane Girls,
Soft Machine,
Joensuu 1685,
Laurel Aitken,
Eve St. Jones,
David McCallum,
The Fortunes,
Jeru the Damaja,
Deepchord,
Kurtis Blow,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Albert Ayler,
The Five Americans,
The Evens,
Black Flag,
Barry Ungar,
Joyce Sims,
Nils Olav,
Von Mondo,
Lou Christie,
Henry Cow,
Ultimate Spinach,
Spoonie Gee,
Nico,
Matthew Halsall,
Max Romeo,
The Wake,
Faraquet,
Grauzone,
Desert Stars,
Visage,
In Retrospect,
Alice Coltrane,
The Gap Band,
Mission of Burma,
Bob Dylan,
Harmonia,
Qualms,
Public Image Ltd.,
Y Pants,
X-101,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
K-Klass,
The Smoke,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Smiths,
Kenny Larkin,
Hasil Adkins,
Gang of Four,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.