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 Haiti and from Madrid.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Moss Icon to the grime 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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roger Hodgson 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monolake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Amon Düül,
Jacques Brel,
One Last Wish,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Busters,
Skaos,
Curtis Mayfield,
New Order,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Pretty Things,
Kayak,
Camouflage,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Moleskins,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
John Lydon,
LL Cool J,
The Fugs,
Ponytail,
Brick,
The Misunderstood,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
DNA,
Gabor Szabo,
Eric B and Rakim,
Wally Richardson,
48th St. Collective,
Kerrie Biddell,
Camberwell Now,
a-ha,
Janne Schatter,
Grandmaster Flash,
X-101,
The Trojans,
The Dirtbombs,
The Wake,
MDC,
The Blackbyrds,
The Sound,
PIL,
Sandy B,
Ralphi Rosario,
Graham Central Station,
Darondo,
Shoche,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Scratch Acid,
The Slits,
Nirvana,
Letta Mbulu,
Drive Like Jehu,
Eli Mardock,
U.S. Maple,
The Tremeloes,
The Gap Band,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Susan Cadogan,
Godley & Creme,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.