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 Chad and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 arpeggiator 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 John Coltrane to the punk 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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Quadrant tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Symarip 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 rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Guru Guru,
Albert Ayler,
Judy Mowatt,
Procol Harum,
Dennis Brown,
The Tremeloes,
Surgeon,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bootsy Collins,
Aural Exciters,
Symarip,
Amon Düül,
Sugar Minott,
Eurythmics,
JFA,
Motorama,
Isaac Hayes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Drive Like Jehu,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Delon & Dalcan,
Barbara Tucker,
Eve St. Jones,
the Association,
Nik Kershaw,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Gories,
John Foxx,
Scratch Acid,
Reagan Youth,
Sandy B,
D'Angelo,
Sound Behaviour,
Amazonics,
Ralphi Rosario,
Vladislav Delay,
The Raincoats,
FM Einheit,
China Crisis,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Selecter,
Grey Daturas,
The Residents,
Pussy Galore,
The Gun Club,
Sun Ra,
AZ,
The Human League,
The Angels of Light,
Cabaret Voltaire,
A Certain Ratio,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scrapy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
John Holt,
Josef K,
Marcia Griffiths,
Black Flag,
Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case, Connie Case.
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.