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 Nigeria and from Halifax.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the snare 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 Smog to the rap 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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Martian,
Carl Craig,
The Knickerbockers,
Erasure,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Duran Duran,
Quantec,
Bang On A Can,
The Fall,
The Trojans,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Selecter,
Eden Ahbez,
Max Romeo,
EPMD,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
B.T. Express,
The New Christs,
Warren Ellis,
Roxette,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Vladislav Delay,
Hot Snakes,
Nas,
Lyres,
Nico,
Ossler,
Talk Talk,
Bobby Hutcherson,
X-101,
AZ,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Oneida,
Fatback Band,
Yellowson,
Agent Orange,
Clear Light,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Mummies,
Anakelly,
Fluxion,
Reagan Youth,
Black Pus,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Shuggie Otis,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
In Retrospect,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Grass Roots,
Soul II Soul,
Au Pairs,
Alice Coltrane,
The Angels of Light,
PIL,
David McCallum,
Ralphi Rosario,
Kaleidoscope,
Scott Walker,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.