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 Uganda and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Invisible to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sister Nancy. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Supertramp 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Christie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stereo Dub,
Minor Threat,
Black Sheep,
the Bar-Kays,
Warsaw,
Sugar Minott,
Franke,
Circle Jerks,
Arab on Radar,
In Retrospect,
Robert Wyatt,
Pantaleimon,
Silicon Teens,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Misunderstood,
Hashim,
James White and The Blacks,
Danielle Patucci,
Wasted Youth,
Bizarre Inc.,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Second Layer,
Jacob Miller,
The United States of America,
Essential Logic,
Darondo,
X-102,
The Fugs,
D'Angelo,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cluster,
Khruangbin,
Scan 7,
Tres Demented,
Kayak,
Chrome,
Derrick Morgan,
Graham Central Station,
Shuggie Otis,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Robert Görl,
Bauhaus,
Qualms,
Ronan,
Reagan Youth,
The Gories,
The Detroit Cobras,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
David Bowie,
Little Man,
Davy DMX,
Drexciya,
The Names,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sixth Finger,
The Last Poets,
The Grass Roots,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Martian,
Sun City Girls,
The Doobie Brothers,
Fatback Band,
Marine Girls,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.