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 Germany and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Eden Ahbez to the dance 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalo Schifrin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
The Dirtbombs,
Terry Callier,
Dark Day,
Aloha Tigers,
Oblivians,
Quantec,
Kevin Saunderson,
Au Pairs,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Whodini,
Boogie Down Productions,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Divine Comedy,
Siglo XX,
Wolf Eyes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Happenings,
Ten City,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Joy Division,
Slave,
Ultra Naté,
Deakin,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Circle Jerks,
Ronnie Foster,
Goldenarms,
The Doobie Brothers,
Echospace,
Throbbing Gristle,
Black Sheep,
Scientists,
Suburban Knight,
Alton Ellis,
Brass Construction,
Mars,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Sarah Menescal,
Motorama,
Lucky Dragons,
AZ,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Birthday Party,
Patti Smith,
The Red Krayola,
Toni Rubio,
Slick Rick,
The Neon Judgement,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ponytail,
The Shadows of Knight,
FM Einheit,
Lou Reed,
The American Breed,
Danielle Patucci,
The Velvet Underground,
Howard Jones,
Crispian St. Peters,
Simply Red,
Bad Manners,
Spoonie Gee,
Joey Negro,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.