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 Gambia and from Copenhagen.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sandy B. All the underground hits.
All Barclay James Harvest tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marine Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Jesus and Mary Chain record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Ituana,
Hasil Adkins,
John Cale,
Max Romeo,
Colin Newman,
Lakeside,
The Human League,
Johnny Osbourne,
Circle Jerks,
the Association,
The United States of America,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Robert Hood,
Jesper Dahlback,
Unrelated Segments,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sugar Minott,
Los Fastidios,
Thee Headcoats,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sam Rivers,
The Gap Band,
Albert Ayler,
Janne Schatter,
Sonny Sharrock,
Angry Samoans,
Kerrie Biddell,
Crispian St. Peters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Jimmy McGriff,
Man Eating Sloth,
Slave,
Eric B and Rakim,
Newcleus,
Jawbox,
Chris & Cosey,
Bronski Beat,
Peter & Gordon,
The Golliwogs,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bad Manners,
Amon Düül II,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Darondo,
Ronnie Foster,
Aural Exciters,
Sound Behaviour,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Tears for Fears,
Throbbing Gristle,
Spoonie Gee,
The Flesh Eaters,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Wally Richardson,
Dual Sessions,
The Beau Brummels,
Gregory Isaacs,
Electric Prunes,
Aaron Thompson,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.