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 Indonesia and from Johannesburg.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Neon Judgement to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All Hardrive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacob Miller record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dual Sessions,
The Music Machine,
Au Pairs,
John Holt,
Whodini,
Chris & Cosey,
The Saints,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Patti Smith,
Q and Not U,
Animal Collective,
The Moleskins,
Archie Shepp,
Barry Ungar,
The Slackers,
X-Ray Spex,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Livin' Joy,
Neil Young,
Matthew Halsall,
48th St. Collective,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Eddi Front,
Monolake,
Frankie Knuckles,
Marcia Griffiths,
Oneida,
Alton Ellis,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Sandy B,
Panda Bear,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
D'Angelo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
UT,
Minutemen,
Radiohead,
Reuben Wilson,
Marine Girls,
Jeff Mills,
Ludus,
The Remains,
Electric Prunes,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
JFA,
Kayak,
Eric Copeland,
Soft Machine,
Bootsy Collins,
The Beau Brummels,
Los Fastidios,
Zapp,
Jandek,
Guru Guru,
Mad Mike,
Faraquet,
ABC,
Colin Newman,
Grandmaster Flash,
Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus, Black Pus.
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.