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 Vietnam and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Swans to the funk 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 Divine Comedy. All the underground hits.
All Pole tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mission of Burma record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sisters of Mercy,
Quantec,
Crispy Ambulance,
Crash Course in Science,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cal Tjader,
Joy Division,
Gang of Four,
Boogie Down Productions,
Glenn Branca,
Marc Almond,
Shoche,
The American Breed,
Von Mondo,
Ice-T,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Hoover,
Absolute Body Control,
Yazoo,
Sam Rivers,
MC5,
Todd Rundgren,
Jimmy McGriff,
Crooked Eye,
Massinfluence,
Joe Smooth,
Minny Pops,
Kenny Larkin,
the Swans,
The Durutti Column,
Interpol,
The Smiths,
Oneida,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Johnny Clarke,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Malaria!,
Barrington Levy,
Newcleus,
Quando Quango,
Bill Near,
Y Pants,
Bobby Womack,
Eric B and Rakim,
Maleditus Sound,
Soul II Soul,
John Cale,
Gang Gang Dance,
Swans,
Dead Boys,
Masters at Work,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Minnie Riperton,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bob Dylan,
KRS-One,
Rotary Connection,
Electric Prunes,
Robert Görl,
Derrick May,
Slick Rick,
The Selecter,
Tom Boy,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.