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 Guatemala and from Edmonton.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 clarinet 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 The Monochrome Set to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All The Grass Roots tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gichy Dan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Motions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
The Residents,
Arab on Radar,
The Cramps,
Throbbing Gristle,
Juan Atkins,
Hashim,
The Toasters,
Main Source,
Procol Harum,
Davy DMX,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Janne Schatter,
Bauhaus,
Easy Going,
Dawn Penn,
Blancmange,
James White and The Blacks,
The Red Krayola,
The Index,
Organ,
Fatback Band,
Chris & Cosey,
Graham Central Station,
Parry Music,
Technova,
Gichy Dan,
Agitation Free,
Wings,
Nick Fraelich,
Robert Wyatt,
Outsiders,
The Gap Band,
Japan,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ronnie Foster,
Ken Boothe,
cv313,
The Blues Magoos,
Althea and Donna,
Unwound,
Public Image Ltd.,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pantytec,
Symarip,
The Move,
Essential Logic,
Tommy Roe,
Man Parrish,
Severed Heads,
Rapeman,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bang On A Can,
Rakim,
Robert Görl,
Dark Day,
Soulsonic Force,
Pylon,
Black Pus,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Marcia Griffiths,
Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim.
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.