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 Taiwan and from Spokane.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sixth Finger to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All Bluetip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Divine Comedy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Siglo XX,
Warren Ellis,
Bill Wells,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Pagans,
Flipper,
Magma,
The Mojo Men,
Soft Machine,
Intrusion,
The Seeds,
The Buckinghams,
Roger Hodgson,
The Beau Brummels,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Martian,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Trumans Water,
Faraquet,
Harmonia,
Rod Modell,
World's Most,
Leonard Cohen,
The Skatalites,
Oneida,
the Normal,
The Fortunes,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Real Kids,
The Dirtbombs,
Television,
Nirvana,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cal Tjader,
Tropical Tobacco,
Blossom Toes,
Babytalk,
Avey Tare,
Matthew Bourne,
E-Dancer,
June of 44,
Ken Boothe,
Bizarre Inc.,
Public Enemy,
Television Personalities,
Black Moon,
Lalann,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
48th St. Collective,
The Sonics,
Suicide,
Charles Mingus,
Crime,
Henry Cow,
Banda Bassotti,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Hot Snakes,
X-Ray Spex,
Tom Boy,
The Monks,
Michelle Simonal,
Ohio Players,
T. Rex,
Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro, Joey Negro.
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.