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 China and from Tehran.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Accra.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
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 Aaron Thompson to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every World's Most record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Absolute Body Control record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blackbyrds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Agitation Free,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lower 48,
Mars,
Hoover,
The Knickerbockers,
The Fire Engines,
Section 25,
Neu!,
PIL,
Delon & Dalcan,
Inner City,
Grey Daturas,
David Bowie,
Reuben Wilson,
Colin Newman,
The Index,
The Leaves,
Guru Guru,
China Crisis,
Drexciya,
FM Einheit,
Gang Starr,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Josef K,
Traffic Nightmare,
Michelle Simonal,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Rites of Spring,
This Heat,
Iggy Pop,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Fuzztones,
Ponytail,
the Human League,
Terrestrial Tones,
Crime,
Lindisfarne,
Harmonia,
Lou Christie,
Aural Exciters,
Cheater Slicks,
Joy Division,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Sonics,
Terry Callier,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Stooges,
Davy DMX,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Lydon,
Black Pus,
Skaos,
Radio Birdman,
Peter & Gordon,
the Normal,
Pet Shop Boys,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.