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 Ecuador and from Sao Paulo.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 The Standells to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Don Cherry. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dead Boys,
the Soft Cell,
Excepter,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Half Japanese,
Easy Going,
the Normal,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Niagra,
The Golliwogs,
Gang Starr,
Laurel Aitken,
New Age Steppers,
John Cale,
L. Decosne,
Second Layer,
Yaz,
Robert Hood,
Absolute Body Control,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lightning Bolt,
These Immortal Souls,
Bobby Sherman,
Jandek,
Lyres,
Skarface,
Soulsonic Force,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Rakim,
Hot Snakes,
Carl Craig,
Joy Division,
Barry Ungar,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Colin Newman,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bill Wells,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lou Reed,
Buzzcocks,
Janne Schatter,
Mandrill,
Grey Daturas,
Iggy Pop,
The Shadows of Knight,
Ituana,
Loose Ends,
Marc Almond,
Freddie Wadling,
Dennis Brown,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Prince Buster,
Sixth Finger,
Glambeats Corp.,
Rod Modell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Red Krayola,
Sällskapet,
Soul II Soul,
John Foxx,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.