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 Canada and from Stockholm.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Camberwell Now to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Move record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Hasil Adkins,
Lee Hazlewood,
Scion,
Joey Negro,
Lou Christie,
Joe Smooth,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Minnie Riperton,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Saints,
Jacob Miller,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Talk Talk,
Alice Coltrane,
Flamin' Groovies,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Sonics,
Soft Cell,
Supertramp,
The Sound,
Bush Tetras,
Gichy Dan,
Cal Tjader,
Parry Music,
Index,
Deakin,
Ken Boothe,
Marshall Jefferson,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The New Christs,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Q and Not U,
Robert Hood,
Bill Wells,
Reagan Youth,
Amon Düül,
The Trojans,
Lou Reed,
Theoretical Girls,
Al Stewart,
The Shadows of Knight,
James White and The Blacks,
Aaron Thompson,
Quantec,
Soul Sonic Force,
Warsaw,
Eden Ahbez,
Amazonics,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Alton Ellis,
EPMD,
Technova,
Wolf Eyes,
The Smoke,
Angry Samoans,
Dual Sessions,
The Moody Blues,
Boz Scaggs,
Kool Moe Dee,
Babytalk,
Michelle Simonal,
Crispy Ambulance,
Interpol, Interpol, Interpol, Interpol.
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.