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 Cambodia and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Swell Maps to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonny Sharrock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
The Evens,
Moebius,
June Days,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
AZ,
The Divine Comedy,
Morten Harket,
Popol Vuh,
The Standells,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Neu!,
Don Cherry,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Pierre Henry,
These Immortal Souls,
Rufus Thomas,
Crispy Ambulance,
UT,
Anthony Braxton,
Monolake,
Sexual Harrassment,
Peter & Gordon,
Soul II Soul,
Aaron Thompson,
Camouflage,
EPMD,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Susan Cadogan,
New Age Steppers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Massinfluence,
Swans,
Little Man,
DNA,
Symarip,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Trumans Water,
The Offenders,
Gang Gang Dance,
Gerry Rafferty,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Durutti Column,
KRS-One,
MC5,
Television Personalities,
Stetsasonic,
Adolescents,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Clarke,
The Seeds,
Erykah Badu,
Television,
Rites of Spring,
China Crisis,
10cc,
Amazonics,
Deakin,
Niagra,
Lower 48,
Scan 7,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.