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 Uganda and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Rufus Thomas to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Andrew Hill. All the underground hits.
All Intrusion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Peanut Butter Conspiracy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Reuben Wilson,
Steve Hackett,
The Fuzztones,
E-Dancer,
OOIOO,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Nico,
Drive Like Jehu,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kool Moe Dee,
Aaron Thompson,
Accadde A,
Carl Craig,
Ossler,
The Fortunes,
James White and The Blacks,
Brand Nubian,
Black Moon,
Lebanon Hanover,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sonic Youth,
Livin' Joy,
Black Pus,
Easy Going,
UT,
Mr. Review,
Half Japanese,
Yellowson,
Eric Copeland,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Amazonics,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Modern Lovers,
The Kinks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Doors,
Altered Images,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ponytail,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Bar-Kays,
X-102,
the Soft Cell,
Crooked Eye,
Quantec,
Brothers Johnson,
Derrick May,
Al Stewart,
The Sonics,
Peter & Gordon,
Kerri Chandler,
Terrestrial Tones,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Moebius,
The Smiths,
Scientists,
Gong,
ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC.
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.