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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Beijing.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Pantaleimon. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Tres Demented,
Ice-T,
Anthony Braxton,
Intrusion,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sällskapet,
Spoonie Gee,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Unrelated Segments,
Audionom,
Gichy Dan,
48th St. Collective,
The Music Machine,
The Names,
Mission of Burma,
Grauzone,
Au Pairs,
Tom Boy,
Babytalk,
The Beau Brummels,
The Kinks,
The Fugs,
Rites of Spring,
Eli Mardock,
Ossler,
Althea and Donna,
Maleditus Sound,
Davy DMX,
Henry Cow,
New York Dolls,
The Move,
Joey Negro,
8 Eyed Spy,
Masters at Work,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Desert Stars,
Jacques Brel,
Harmonia,
Scratch Acid,
The Skatalites,
Skarface,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Cheater Slicks,
Sonic Youth,
Agent Orange,
Johnny Clarke,
The Doobie Brothers,
Amazonics,
Siglo XX,
DNA,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Velvet Underground,
the Association,
Kool Moe Dee,
Crispy Ambulance,
Deakin,
The Remains, The Remains, The Remains, The Remains.
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.