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 Togo and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 Spokane and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Swans to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Quadrant. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Dark Day record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
Bill Near,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Young Marble Giants,
Leonard Cohen,
The Dirtbombs,
Cymande,
Donny Hathaway,
K-Klass,
Fela Kuti,
June Days,
The Monochrome Set,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Toasters,
Harry Pussy,
Juan Atkins,
The Golliwogs,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ponytail,
Charles Mingus,
Bauhaus,
Yaz,
Gong,
Nirvana,
The Divine Comedy,
Dave Gahan,
Isaac Hayes,
The Gladiators,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Last Poets,
Ludus,
Chris Corsano,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rhythm & Sound,
EPMD,
The Cure,
Television Personalities,
Rites of Spring,
Spandau Ballet,
Graham Central Station,
Slick Rick,
The Dave Clark Five,
Pussy Galore,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Anthony Braxton,
Oblivians,
Ice-T,
Grey Daturas,
Skriet,
Wally Richardson,
Jeff Lynne,
David Bowie,
Lindisfarne,
The Happenings,
Iggy Pop,
Sixth Finger,
Loose Ends,
Wolf Eyes,
Heaven 17,
Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest.
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.