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 Thailand and from Milan.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 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 Gories to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Doobie Brothers. All the underground hits.
All The Victims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Dave Gahan,
Chrome,
Dark Day,
The Smoke,
the Slits,
The Smiths,
Cameo,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Hoover,
Ralphi Rosario,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rites of Spring,
a-ha,
Swans,
Isaac Hayes,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bauhaus,
Sonic Youth,
Negative Approach,
R.M.O.,
Warsaw,
The Velvet Underground,
The Remains,
Colin Newman,
Y Pants,
Scott Walker,
Gang Starr,
The Index,
Vladislav Delay,
Barclay James Harvest,
Quantec,
The Wake,
the Association,
Pierre Henry,
Technova,
JFA,
Lebanon Hanover,
Max Romeo,
OOIOO,
One Last Wish,
Brothers Johnson,
The American Breed,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Terry Callier,
Con Funk Shun,
Model 500,
DNA,
Cybotron,
Lakeside,
The Trojans,
Maurizio,
Theoretical Girls,
Inner City,
The Dirtbombs,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Monochrome Set,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Eric Copeland,
Susan Cadogan,
KRS-One,
Bobby Byrd,
Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen.
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.