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 Zimbabwe and from Philadelphia.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Bang On A Can to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Ultravox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Selecter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
FM Einheit,
Erasure,
New York Dolls,
Little Man,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Moleskins,
Sonic Youth,
Deakin,
Main Source,
Scan 7,
Nirvana,
Alison Limerick,
Anthony Braxton,
Spandau Ballet,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Slave,
EPMD,
Unrelated Segments,
Mad Mike,
Joy Division,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Boredoms,
Drexciya,
AZ,
Crash Course in Science,
Young Marble Giants,
Carl Craig,
Oblivians,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Real Kids,
Mars,
Brick,
Lungfish,
Kaleidoscope,
Camberwell Now,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
the Slits,
Accadde A,
Dark Day,
Ken Boothe,
Minnie Riperton,
Blossom Toes,
Intrusion,
Tommy Roe,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pagans,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sound Behaviour,
The Trojans,
Faraquet,
Jeff Lynne,
Black Pus,
The Golliwogs,
Silicon Teens,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Don Cherry,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Fire Engines,
Mandrill,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.