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 Armenia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare 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 the Normal to the grime 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 Dawn Penn. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
Eden Ahbez,
Unwound,
Derrick May,
Rufus Thomas,
the Slits,
Flipper,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Offenders,
Pussy Galore,
The Martian,
Adolescents,
Half Japanese,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Excepter,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pagans,
Guru Guru,
Chris Corsano,
Reagan Youth,
James White and The Blacks,
Altered Images,
Sugar Minott,
Johnny Clarke,
Anakelly,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Divine Comedy,
DJ Style,
Bill Wells,
The Shadows of Knight,
Barrington Levy,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
KRS-One,
The Sound,
Moss Icon,
Sarah Menescal,
The Leaves,
Panda Bear,
The Monks,
Tropical Tobacco,
Liliput,
The Litter,
DNA,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Normal,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Kaleidoscope,
Nick Fraelich,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Radiopuhelimet,
Clear Light,
Moby Grape,
Tears for Fears,
Albert Ayler,
Lou Christie,
Aloha Tigers,
Soul Sonic Force,
Essential Logic,
DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak.
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.