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 Italy and from Mumbai.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Leaves to the funk 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 Ornette Coleman. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
Swell Maps,
The Dirtbombs,
Ronan,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Angels of Light,
Flipper,
Hot Snakes,
Maleditus Sound,
Das Ding,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Eli Mardock,
Aaron Thompson,
Todd Terry,
Tom Boy,
Bill Near,
The Fuzztones,
Scrapy,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
A Certain Ratio,
Qualms,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eve St. Jones,
Make Up,
Donald Byrd,
the Germs,
Peter & Gordon,
Yaz,
Michelle Simonal,
Dual Sessions,
Reagan Youth,
JFA,
Model 500,
UT,
Howard Jones,
Deepchord,
In Retrospect,
Quadrant,
The Remains,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Popol Vuh,
The J.B.'s,
The Wake,
Animal Collective,
Mandrill,
Sarah Menescal,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lebanon Hanover,
Barbara Tucker,
The Standells,
Pulsallama,
ABBA,
Sun Ra,
ABC,
Soft Cell,
Country Teasers,
Underground Resistance,
Quando Quango,
Gichy Dan,
Sister Nancy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters.
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.