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 Togo and from Bremen.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Shanghai.
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 snare 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 Mary Jane Girls to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Crime tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agitation Free record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Music Machine,
June Days,
Arcadia,
Ronnie Foster,
The Pretty Things,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Procol Harum,
Peter and Kerry,
Average White Band,
The Mummies,
Swell Maps,
Public Enemy,
Grey Daturas,
Black Flag,
Tubeway Army,
The Black Dice,
Amazonics,
Panda Bear,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Jandek,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Fugs,
F. McDonald,
Deakin,
Joyce Sims,
Jeff Lynne,
Cameo,
Fela Kuti,
Con Funk Shun,
Yaz,
Trumans Water,
Sparks,
Todd Terry,
ABBA,
Amon Düül II,
the Germs,
Livin' Joy,
Barry Ungar,
Mark Hollis,
The Offenders,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Parry Music,
Lee Hazlewood,
Banda Bassotti,
Erykah Badu,
Chris Corsano,
The Victims,
Bizarre Inc.,
Brothers Johnson,
Gabor Szabo,
Tom Boy,
Vladislav Delay,
Scientists,
Brass Construction,
Monolake,
The Electric Prunes,
The Young Rascals,
X-102,
Wasted Youth,
Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling.
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.