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 New Zealand and from Spokane.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tehran.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Arthur Verocai to the electroclash 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 Adolescents. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Sneak record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marvin Gaye record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Intrusion,
Scrapy,
Erykah Badu,
Goldenarms,
Lindisfarne,
Vainqueur,
Lyres,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Angels of Light,
The Sonics,
R.M.O.,
D'Angelo,
Fluxion,
Barbara Tucker,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Cowsills,
The Cure,
Cal Tjader,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kurtis Blow,
Amon Düül,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pierre Henry,
Ossler,
Arthur Verocai,
Howard Jones,
Jeru the Damaja,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Boz Scaggs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Kinks,
Lucky Dragons,
Sonny Sharrock,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sixth Finger,
Iggy Pop,
The Gladiators,
Television Personalities,
Siglo XX,
Brass Construction,
Parry Music,
Johnny Clarke,
Magma,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Hashim,
Underground Resistance,
Quadrant,
Subhumans,
Saccharine Trust,
The Smoke,
Magazine,
The Gun Club,
Crime,
Ronnie Foster,
Sun Ra,
Q65,
Eden Ahbez,
Rotary Connection,
Ultimate Spinach,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.