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 Nicaragua 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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Seoul.
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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the guitar 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 MC5 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 U.S. Maple. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tubeway Army record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
The United States of America,
The Wake,
Magazine,
Black Flag,
Kas Product,
Panda Bear,
John Cale,
Isaac Hayes,
Maleditus Sound,
Vainqueur,
Robert Wyatt,
The Fire Engines,
The Doors,
Black Moon,
The Last Poets,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sandy B,
Sugar Minott,
Matthew Bourne,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
David Bowie,
Porter Ricks,
Archie Shepp,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Pretty Things,
The Happenings,
Rosa Yemen,
The Names,
The Dirtbombs,
Minor Threat,
The Index,
AZ,
Circle Jerks,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Oneida,
Silicon Teens,
Dark Day,
Scion,
Technova,
The Star Department,
Warsaw,
Mo-Dettes,
Cheater Slicks,
Amon Düül II,
John Lydon,
X-102,
Crash Course in Science,
Clear Light,
Howard Jones,
Electric Prunes,
The Red Krayola,
Jacob Miller,
Lower 48,
Harry Pussy,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lebanon Hanover,
Bill Wells,
the Normal,
Delon & Dalcan,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.