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 Solomon Islands and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Houston.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the organ 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the punk 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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gabor Szabo 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Susan Cadogan,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Invisible,
Idris Muhammad,
David McCallum,
Archie Shepp,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
JFA,
Livin' Joy,
AZ,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Gun Club,
Deadbeat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Joe Finger,
Barbara Tucker,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Skaos,
The Music Machine,
Al Stewart,
Interpol,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nick Fraelich,
Qualms,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Massinfluence,
Agent Orange,
Can,
Ultra Naté,
Radio Birdman,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Minny Pops,
Thee Headcoats,
The Dave Clark Five,
Make Up,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Todd Rundgren,
The Smiths,
Whodini,
The Knickerbockers,
Dark Day,
Wire,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Lightning Bolt,
Cymande,
Blossom Toes,
The Cramps,
Eric Copeland,
ABC,
Barrington Levy,
Brothers Johnson,
Kayak,
Stiv Bators,
This Heat,
La Düsseldorf,
Brand Nubian,
China Crisis,
D'Angelo,
Crooked Eye,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.