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 South Africa and from Manila.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Section 25 to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Saints. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
L. Decosne,
Bill Near,
Letta Mbulu,
Ralphi Rosario,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Blackbyrds,
Scrapy,
Warren Ellis,
Sonny Sharrock,
La Düsseldorf,
Rekid,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Judy Mowatt,
Spandau Ballet,
Model 500,
the Human League,
Bob Dylan,
The Fire Engines,
the Soft Cell,
Bizarre Inc.,
Magma,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kenny Larkin,
Harry Pussy,
Danielle Patucci,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Ludus,
Guru Guru,
Soulsonic Force,
Yusef Lateef,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Count Five,
Sixth Finger,
Idris Muhammad,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Alice Coltrane,
Ultravox,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Monolake,
Blancmange,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Royal Trux,
The Skatalites,
Wasted Youth,
Faraquet,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Selecter,
Joe Finger,
The Smiths,
Deepchord,
Roxette,
Cybotron,
F. McDonald,
Barclay James Harvest,
cv313,
Minny Pops,
Niagra,
Chris Corsano,
Procol Harum,
Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail.
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.