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 Azerbaijan and from New York.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 synthesizer 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 Anthony Braxton to the funk 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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All The Royal Family And The Poor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every World's Most record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Grass Roots,
Pharoah Sanders,
Main Source,
The Stooges,
Nas,
Bad Manners,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Quadrant,
David Bowie,
the Germs,
Eurythmics,
Drexciya,
Tommy Roe,
Radiohead,
The Invisible,
Joy Division,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Human League,
Albert Ayler,
This Heat,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bob Dylan,
Rod Modell,
Brass Construction,
Marvin Gaye,
X-101,
Lower 48,
X-Ray Spex,
a-ha,
Wire,
It's A Beautiful Day,
FM Einheit,
The Doors,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Kool Moe Dee,
The United States of America,
The Happenings,
Cameo,
The Victims,
Gang Green,
The Flesh Eaters,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Pulsallama,
Charles Mingus,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Agent Orange,
The Detroit Cobras,
Arab on Radar,
Andrew Hill,
Bang On A Can,
Outsiders,
Dead Boys,
Massinfluence,
Grauzone,
Pylon,
the Swans,
Reagan Youth,
Scan 7,
The Gories,
Sonny Sharrock,
Von Mondo,
Yaz,
Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters, Crispian St. Peters.
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.