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 France and from Taipei.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Rod Modell to the disco 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 Symarip. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bronski Beat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Letta Mbulu,
Cluster,
The United States of America,
FM Einheit,
Peter and Kerry,
Erykah Badu,
Yazoo,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Modern Lovers,
Eric B and Rakim,
Marshall Jefferson,
La Düsseldorf,
Soft Cell,
Scan 7,
Roy Ayers,
Minnie Riperton,
Model 500,
Livin' Joy,
Todd Terry,
T.S.O.L.,
Neil Young,
the Swans,
Gregory Isaacs,
Minutemen,
Hoover,
Dawn Penn,
Ponytail,
Ultimate Spinach,
Deakin,
Terrestrial Tones,
World's Most,
David Bowie,
Blake Baxter,
JFA,
Groovy Waters,
Crispian St. Peters,
Terry Callier,
Erasure,
New Age Steppers,
Desert Stars,
A Certain Ratio,
Arthur Verocai,
Goldenarms,
Masters at Work,
Pole,
Trumans Water,
Joyce Sims,
The Golliwogs,
The Slackers,
Junior Murvin,
Maurizio,
Lalo Schifrin,
10cc,
The Cure,
Eddi Front,
Peter & Gordon,
Gichy Dan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.