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 Papua New Guinea and from Bologna.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Jesus and Mary Chain to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lonnie Liston Smith 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skriet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Jerry's Kids,
Hasil Adkins,
Girls At Our Best!,
Ultravox,
Supertramp,
Harry Pussy,
Guru Guru,
Drexciya,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sparks,
Theoretical Girls,
cv313,
Donald Byrd,
Severed Heads,
Soulsonic Force,
Gastr Del Sol,
Vainqueur,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Aural Exciters,
Cybotron,
London Community Gospel Choir,
F. McDonald,
Arab on Radar,
Joe Finger,
Barry Ungar,
Rapeman,
Big Daddy Kane,
Babytalk,
The Golliwogs,
Bootsy Collins,
Ken Boothe,
Sex Pistols,
Black Sheep,
Agitation Free,
Black Moon,
Bob Dylan,
Black Pus,
Chrome,
Television,
Dual Sessions,
Rakim,
H. Thieme,
Au Pairs,
Animal Collective,
Pet Shop Boys,
Colin Newman,
Isaac Hayes,
Neu!,
Bronski Beat,
Main Source,
Boogie Down Productions,
Boredoms,
Royal Trux,
Half Japanese,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Black Dice,
Monolake,
10cc,
Eli Mardock,
Gang Starr,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.