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 Malawi and from London.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ultravox to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats 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 clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sarah Menescal,
Junior Murvin,
Harmonia,
Curtis Mayfield,
Pet Shop Boys,
Quando Quango,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Hot Snakes,
KRS-One,
Procol Harum,
Echospace,
June of 44,
Fluxion,
The Slits,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sonics,
Sugar Minott,
John Coltrane,
The Toasters,
The Human League,
Second Layer,
John Holt,
Wings,
Vladislav Delay,
X-101,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Blossom Toes,
Quadrant,
Arab on Radar,
the Normal,
Marvin Gaye,
Fela Kuti,
Robert Hood,
Davy DMX,
Faraquet,
Sight & Sound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pole,
Liliput,
Isaac Hayes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Rapeman,
Harpers Bizarre,
Mary Jane Girls,
Youth Brigade,
New York Dolls,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Icehouse,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ludus,
Bush Tetras,
Ohio Players,
New Order,
Alton Ellis,
The Music Machine,
OOIOO,
Depeche Mode,
Frankie Knuckles,
Hoover,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.