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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Woodstock.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 guitar 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 MC5 to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Shadows of Knight. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erasure record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
The Angels of Light,
Jacob Miller,
Crispian St. Peters,
John Lydon,
Aural Exciters,
Radiohead,
Cymande,
Boredoms,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lower 48,
E-Dancer,
Joyce Sims,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Dave Clark Five,
Main Source,
Nas,
Nico,
The Toasters,
Reagan Youth,
Suburban Knight,
Ornette Coleman,
Michelle Simonal,
Barbara Tucker,
Harry Pussy,
Metal Thangz,
Peter & Gordon,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Red Krayola,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Alarm Clocks,
Adolescents,
Gang Gang Dance,
Donald Byrd,
Todd Rundgren,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Tremeloes,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jandek,
The Walker Brothers,
DJ Style,
Brick,
Accadde A,
Supertramp,
The Fuzztones,
Inner City,
Marc Almond,
Lightning Bolt,
The Techniques,
Radio Birdman,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Don Cherry,
Donny Hathaway,
Chris Corsano,
Minnie Riperton,
Livin' Joy,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Susan Cadogan,
James White and The Blacks,
Man Eating Sloth,
Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck, Jesper Dahlbäck.
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.