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 Paraguay and from Bremen.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 The Mojo Men to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Babytalk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a World's Most record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
Idris Muhammad,
Accadde A,
Reagan Youth,
Electric Prunes,
Lower 48,
Jandek,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Wolf Eyes,
Eric Dolphy,
Faust,
Bad Manners,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Icehouse,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Doors,
The Count Five,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sight & Sound,
Erykah Badu,
Fifty Foot Hose,
X-101,
Funky Four + One,
cv313,
Girls At Our Best!,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Archie Shepp,
Aloha Tigers,
Crispy Ambulance,
David McCallum,
Ohio Players,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Model 500,
Cal Tjader,
The Young Rascals,
Avey Tare,
One Last Wish,
Underground Resistance,
Rapeman,
The Sound,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sandy B,
Sixth Finger,
Tres Demented,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
X-Ray Spex,
Lebanon Hanover,
James White and The Blacks,
Drexciya,
Ponytail,
The Dead C,
Ronan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Alphaville,
Dave Gahan,
Tomorrow,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Animal Collective,
Man Eating Sloth,
Supertramp,
Depeche Mode,
Ultra Naté,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.