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 Canada and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Shanghai.
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 spring reverb 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 Iggy Pop to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All The Monochrome Set tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Modern Lovers,
Steve Hackett,
Pet Shop Boys,
James Chance & The Contortions,
FM Einheit,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Neu!,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Slackers,
Todd Rundgren,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Associates,
Sparks,
Glambeats Corp.,
Barbara Tucker,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
June of 44,
The Evens,
Ohio Players,
ABBA,
Tres Demented,
Spoonie Gee,
Rakim,
Underground Resistance,
Boz Scaggs,
The Alarm Clocks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Birthday Party,
Nik Kershaw,
Ludus,
Magma,
Man Eating Sloth,
Groovy Waters,
Intrusion,
Dual Sessions,
Parry Music,
Joensuu 1685,
Con Funk Shun,
Basic Channel,
Gong,
Warren Ellis,
Colin Newman,
Newcleus,
X-101,
Heaven 17,
KRS-One,
The Happenings,
Kayak,
Massinfluence,
Bobby Womack,
Josef K,
The Moody Blues,
Section 25,
Audionom,
Vladislav Delay,
Accadde A,
Ice-T,
Bluetip,
Magazine,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.