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 Bangladesh and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Lou Reed & John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Al Stewart record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marine Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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 Modern Lovers,
Dennis Brown,
Swell Maps,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sun Ra,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pylon,
Panda Bear,
Cal Tjader,
Sound Behaviour,
Supertramp,
Adolescents,
Moebius,
Ituana,
Isaac Hayes,
The Walker Brothers,
Charles Mingus,
Kayak,
Soft Cell,
Joensuu 1685,
Quando Quango,
Aural Exciters,
Agent Orange,
Curtis Mayfield,
Liliput,
The Standells,
The Shadows of Knight,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Kas Product,
Japan,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Velvet Underground,
Laurel Aitken,
The Count Five,
June of 44,
Niagra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Bar-Kays,
Frankie Knuckles,
X-101,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Roger Hodgson,
Andrew Hill,
10cc,
Yazoo,
A Certain Ratio,
Harpers Bizarre,
Colin Newman,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Zeros,
The Detroit Cobras,
Bush Tetras,
The Fortunes,
Juan Atkins,
The Cowsills,
Television,
48th St. Collective,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Kenny Larkin,
The Pretty Things,
Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler, Kerri Chandler.
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.