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 Lebanon and from Glasgow.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 theremin 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 the Human League to the crunk 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron. All the underground hits.
All Suburban Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Jerry's Kids,
Scratch Acid,
Y Pants,
Alton Ellis,
Talk Talk,
PIL,
Schoolly D,
The Pretty Things,
Section 25,
Trumans Water,
The Black Dice,
Jawbox,
The Doors,
Saccharine Trust,
Delon & Dalcan,
In Retrospect,
Make Up,
Fugazi,
The Moody Blues,
Blossom Toes,
Public Enemy,
the Fania All-Stars,
John Coltrane,
Jeff Lynne,
The Human League,
X-Ray Spex,
Spandau Ballet,
Pole,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Detroit Cobras,
Zapp,
Jandek,
Sight & Sound,
Nils Olav,
Magma,
Young Marble Giants,
Radio Birdman,
Goldenarms,
Carl Craig,
Juan Atkins,
kango's stein massive,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Barracudas,
Ultimate Spinach,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Basic Channel,
Chris & Cosey,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Television Personalities,
Fatback Band,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Monks,
The Young Rascals,
Soul II Soul,
Mission of Burma,
Eric Copeland,
Deakin,
Model 500,
Monolake,
Gong, Gong, Gong, Gong.
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.