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 Sudan and from Stockholm.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Ralphi Rosario to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alison Limerick. All the underground hits.
All a-ha tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Normal,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Scott Walker,
The Black Dice,
One Last Wish,
Cecil Taylor,
Echospace,
Nick Fraelich,
Desert Stars,
This Heat,
Thompson Twins,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Electric Prunes,
Boredoms,
Brothers Johnson,
Outsiders,
Reuben Wilson,
The American Breed,
AZ,
Spandau Ballet,
Pere Ubu,
the Slits,
Monolake,
The Walker Brothers,
Pet Shop Boys,
Icehouse,
Jacques Brel,
The Gun Club,
Black Moon,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fatback Band,
Metal Thangz,
MC5,
Simply Red,
Darondo,
Average White Band,
In Retrospect,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mo-Dettes,
Massinfluence,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lou Reed,
Moebius,
Aaron Thompson,
Lalann,
Kool Moe Dee,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kerri Chandler,
a-ha,
The Blues Magoos,
Eurythmics,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lakeside,
Howard Jones,
Absolute Body Control,
The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks, The Kinks.
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.