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 Swaziland and from Sao Paulo.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Chocolate Watch Band. All the underground hits.
All Organ tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Rundgren 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Order record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Susan Cadogan,
Average White Band,
Trumans Water,
Grey Daturas,
U.S. Maple,
Lou Christie,
The Grass Roots,
Nils Olav,
Motorama,
The Real Kids,
Funkadelic,
Thompson Twins,
Bauhaus,
Jawbox,
Yusef Lateef,
Thee Headcoats,
Leonard Cohen,
Drexciya,
The Mummies,
The American Breed,
Spandau Ballet,
Public Enemy,
Ten City,
Judy Mowatt,
Marmalade,
Dorothy Ashby,
Schoolly D,
Marshall Jefferson,
Davy DMX,
A Certain Ratio,
Morten Harket,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
F. McDonald,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Steve Hackett,
Sällskapet,
Desert Stars,
Donny Hathaway,
Chrome,
Los Fastidios,
The Sonics,
Althea and Donna,
Wings,
Peter & Gordon,
Youth Brigade,
Donald Byrd,
Easy Going,
Section 25,
the Bar-Kays,
Echospace,
La Düsseldorf,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Qualms,
Gichy Dan,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
the Swans,
Stetsasonic,
Marvin Gaye,
The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes.
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.