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 Senegal and from Accra.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 guitar 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 Roy Ayers to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All Public Image Ltd. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mojo Men record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
The Martian,
Nik Kershaw,
Bang On A Can,
Radiohead,
Lebanon Hanover,
Graham Central Station,
Qualms,
The Monochrome Set,
Wire,
Bobby Womack,
Clear Light,
Jacob Miller,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Sonic Youth,
Scratch Acid,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Infiniti,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Max Romeo,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Oblivians,
Chris Corsano,
Royal Trux,
The Fortunes,
Bob Dylan,
The Beau Brummels,
Symarip,
K-Klass,
Spoonie Gee,
Oneida,
Marine Girls,
Barrington Levy,
Cybotron,
Pulsallama,
Peter and Kerry,
Sandy B,
The Fugs,
Basic Channel,
Leonard Cohen,
Swans,
Agitation Free,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Zero Boys,
Black Sheep,
Scan 7,
Throbbing Gristle,
Mars,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Prince Buster,
The United States of America,
One Last Wish,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Albert Ayler,
Lindisfarne,
Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck.
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.