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 Afghanistan and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Star Department to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Mojo Men. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a UT record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Can,
Vainqueur,
Flash Fearless,
Robert Hood,
The Last Poets,
The Blackbyrds,
Maurizio,
Dark Day,
Jandek,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Trojans,
Crash Course in Science,
Marshall Jefferson,
Electric Prunes,
Nirvana,
10cc,
Faust,
Brass Construction,
Surgeon,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Clear Light,
Soulsonic Force,
Erasure,
Derrick Morgan,
Youth Brigade,
Terry Callier,
Joensuu 1685,
Jacob Miller,
The United States of America,
Fad Gadget,
Peter and Kerry,
Intrusion,
The Black Dice,
the Fania All-Stars,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
David Axelrod,
The Gap Band,
Erykah Badu,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roxy Music,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Severed Heads,
Nick Fraelich,
Wally Richardson,
Al Stewart,
The Zeros,
Audionom,
Yaz,
Godley & Creme,
Fat Boys,
Interpol,
Agitation Free,
Heaven 17,
Slick Rick,
Pierre Henry,
the Normal,
Radiohead,
Pere Ubu,
Jacques Brel,
Von Mondo,
Niagra,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics.
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.