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 Lithuania and from Woodstock.
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 Madrid and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Flash Fearless to the techno 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 Gastr Del Sol. All the underground hits.
All June of 44 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Negative Approach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jandek,
The Knickerbockers,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Stockholm Monsters,
Robert Wyatt,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Brothers Johnson,
The Cramps,
Ronnie Foster,
Wings,
The Durutti Column,
Inner City,
Main Source,
Nick Fraelich,
Sandy B,
Danielle Patucci,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Grey Daturas,
Oblivians,
The Skatalites,
The Offenders,
The Count Five,
John Cale,
Bronski Beat,
Ralphi Rosario,
Idris Muhammad,
Pere Ubu,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Interpol,
Vladislav Delay,
The Fall,
Accadde A,
The Residents,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fela Kuti,
The Invisible,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
L. Decosne,
Youth Brigade,
Drexciya,
10cc,
Loose Ends,
The Mummies,
Yellowson,
Jeff Mills,
The Busters,
Ituana,
Skaos,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Scan 7,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lee Hazlewood,
Andrew Hill,
OOIOO,
the Germs,
Severed Heads,
Anthony Braxton,
Livin' Joy,
Bill Wells,
Goldenarms,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Index,
The Angels of Light,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.