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 Mali and from Madrid.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the organ 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 EPMD to the grunge 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 Eyeless In Gaza. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tears for Fears record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Josef K,
The Golliwogs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Motions,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Outsiders,
Sun Ra,
MC5,
Intrusion,
Soft Cell,
Laurel Aitken,
Gabor Szabo,
Drive Like Jehu,
Amon Düül II,
New Age Steppers,
Kas Product,
the Soft Cell,
Tubeway Army,
Sonic Youth,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Carl Craig,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lindisfarne,
Sam Rivers,
The Knickerbockers,
Flash Fearless,
Unwound,
Quadrant,
Magazine,
U.S. Maple,
Reagan Youth,
the Swans,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gang Green,
New Order,
Lou Reed,
Albert Ayler,
Nick Fraelich,
Oblivians,
Soft Machine,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Amazonics,
The Slits,
John Lydon,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Real Kids,
F. McDonald,
Maleditus Sound,
Skaos,
Bobby Byrd,
Sister Nancy,
The Monks,
Barry Ungar,
The Birthday Party,
Swell Maps,
Severed Heads,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.