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 El Salvador and from Manila.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin 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 Tomorrow to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a UT record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes 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 Fortunes,
Surgeon,
Roxette,
Robert Görl,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The United States of America,
Wire,
Cymande,
Pantaleimon,
Boogie Down Productions,
Amazonics,
Jacques Brel,
John Lydon,
Boz Scaggs,
Barrington Levy,
The Kinks,
Visage,
Nils Olav,
Alton Ellis,
The Smoke,
Dark Day,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Sound,
Delon & Dalcan,
Pulsallama,
Soft Cell,
Derrick Morgan,
Jacob Miller,
Groovy Waters,
Kurtis Blow,
kango's stein massive,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Angels of Light,
Connie Case,
Bobby Womack,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Moody Blues,
The Zeros,
Juan Atkins,
Gang of Four,
Deakin,
Lebanon Hanover,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Au Pairs,
UT,
Animal Collective,
Moby Grape,
Minny Pops,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sixth Finger,
Sonny Sharrock,
D'Angelo,
Stockholm Monsters,
Eric Copeland,
R.M.O.,
Public Enemy,
Joensuu 1685,
Thompson Twins,
Angry Samoans,
This Heat,
James White and The Blacks,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.