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 Denmark and from Lyon.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Glenn Branca to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba 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?
The Slits,
The Slackers,
The Neon Judgement,
Ohio Players,
Derrick Morgan,
Stiv Bators,
Al Stewart,
Jandek,
Ossler,
Marvin Gaye,
Tommy Roe,
Gregory Isaacs,
Davy DMX,
Wolf Eyes,
Newcleus,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Joe Smooth,
the Germs,
The Wake,
Ponytail,
Television,
The Blackbyrds,
Gang Green,
Judy Mowatt,
KRS-One,
H. Thieme,
The Angels of Light,
Jeff Lynne,
Faust,
Quantec,
Glambeats Corp.,
Public Image Ltd.,
Mo-Dettes,
Idris Muhammad,
Charles Mingus,
Barry Ungar,
Donny Hathaway,
Blake Baxter,
The Gun Club,
Brand Nubian,
Lungfish,
The Doobie Brothers,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The United States of America,
Moby Grape,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Half Japanese,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Magma,
Pylon,
Ken Boothe,
Bill Wells,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Sonic Youth,
D'Angelo,
Ralphi Rosario,
Crash Course in Science,
Mandrill,
The Gories, The Gories, The Gories, The Gories.
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.