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 Seoul.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 harpsichord 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 Sonic Youth to the electroclash 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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Major Organ And The Adding Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T. Rex,
Fatback Band,
The Smiths,
Erykah Badu,
Nick Fraelich,
AZ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Rufus Thomas,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Arab on Radar,
Franke,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Standells,
Susan Cadogan,
Babytalk,
Ituana,
Tim Buckley,
the Normal,
John Coltrane,
New Order,
Shuggie Otis,
D'Angelo,
The Mummies,
Nik Kershaw,
Anakelly,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
PIL,
Lou Christie,
Cymande,
Agent Orange,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Urselle,
Y Pants,
Wasted Youth,
Tommy Roe,
The Victims,
New York Dolls,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gerry Rafferty,
Fat Boys,
Zapp,
Iggy Pop,
The Searchers,
Smog,
the Swans,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gang Gang Dance,
Tom Boy,
The Leaves,
Ultra Naté,
Sparks,
Pantaleimon,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fugazi,
Vladislav Delay,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Organ,
The Slits,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7.
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.