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 Marshall Islands and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Unrelated Segments to the techno 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 Lou Reed & John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Notorious Big And Bone Thugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sandy B record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Ituana,
Flipper,
Pylon,
Kurtis Blow,
The Velvet Underground,
Neu!,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Mojo Men,
China Crisis,
Jimmy McGriff,
Average White Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
Avey Tare,
The Moody Blues,
Graham Central Station,
Angry Samoans,
Eric Dolphy,
Skaos,
Moss Icon,
Q and Not U,
Joy Division,
Spandau Ballet,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ultravox,
Mary Jane Girls,
Magma,
Pantaleimon,
Rapeman,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Arab on Radar,
Marine Girls,
Unwound,
Animal Collective,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ralphi Rosario,
Swell Maps,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ten City,
The Human League,
The Saints,
Maleditus Sound,
F. McDonald,
Slave,
ABC,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Liliput,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Nils Olav,
Jeff Mills,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Juan Atkins,
Gabor Szabo,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kayak,
Gastr Del Sol,
Rotary Connection,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Flash Fearless,
The Last Poets,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.