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 Uruguay and from Toronto.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Negative Approach to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Depeche Mode. All the underground hits.
All Fatback Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sunsets and Hearts record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Foxx,
Nirvana,
Crispian St. Peters,
Barry Ungar,
Roxy Music,
Ultra Naté,
Bush Tetras,
Organ,
The Divine Comedy,
The Offenders,
John Coltrane,
Yazoo,
The Mummies,
The Saints,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Scratch Acid,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Joensuu 1685,
Q and Not U,
One Last Wish,
David Axelrod,
B.T. Express,
Joyce Sims,
The Sound,
Harry Pussy,
Man Parrish,
Livin' Joy,
Boz Scaggs,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Siglo XX,
Whodini,
Deakin,
Brand Nubian,
Ponytail,
Fluxion,
Terry Callier,
Pharoah Sanders,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Mr. Review,
Rekid,
Jacques Brel,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Porter Ricks,
The Skatalites,
Pierre Henry,
Moby Grape,
The Slits,
World's Most,
The Star Department,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The United States of America,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
the Bar-Kays,
R.M.O.,
Robert Hood,
Quadrant,
Barrington Levy,
Goldenarms,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.