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 Qatar and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Searchers,
Todd Rundgren,
John Coltrane,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Youth Brigade,
Ten City,
Donny Hathaway,
Maleditus Sound,
The Blues Magoos,
Main Source,
Cymande,
The Buckinghams,
Ultra Naté,
Mr. Review,
D'Angelo,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Toasters,
Anthony Braxton,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
AZ,
Marc Almond,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Soft Cell,
Josef K,
Wings,
Ronan,
The Skatalites,
E-Dancer,
Los Fastidios,
Warsaw,
Camberwell Now,
Harmonia,
Animal Collective,
Radiopuhelimet,
Boz Scaggs,
Inner City,
Magma,
Index,
Eddi Front,
Newcleus,
Eli Mardock,
Deepchord,
Bob Dylan,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Doors,
Soft Machine,
Traffic Nightmare,
Model 500,
Girls At Our Best!,
Blancmange,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Marcia Griffiths,
The J.B.'s,
Aaron Thompson,
Fela Kuti,
Scan 7,
Bang On A Can,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Warren Ellis,
Blossom Toes,
Mad Mike,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.