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 Marshall Islands 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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lille.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
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 The Martian to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Busters. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Absolute Body Control,
Gong,
Scott Walker,
Danielle Patucci,
Nirvana,
Oblivians,
Bobby Byrd,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Isaac Hayes,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pierre Henry,
Eden Ahbez,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Smoke,
Janne Schatter,
Kaleidoscope,
Motorama,
Monks,
Fear,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Minnie Riperton,
Flash Fearless,
Minor Threat,
Moby Grape,
Surgeon,
Ultra Naté,
Lightning Bolt,
Echospace,
Davy DMX,
Bobby Womack,
In Retrospect,
The Mummies,
Roxy Music,
Sixth Finger,
Visage,
Arab on Radar,
Desert Stars,
the Germs,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Suburban Knight,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Alice Coltrane,
DJ Style,
Boredoms,
10cc,
Mandrill,
Curtis Mayfield,
Stiv Bators,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
T.S.O.L.,
Fatback Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
A Certain Ratio,
The Smiths,
Glambeats Corp.,
June Days,
Adolescents,
Stereo Dub,
Con Funk Shun,
Sandy B,
The Slits,
Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin.
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.