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 Ghana and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Harpers Bizarre to the electroclash 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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gun Club,
Janne Schatter,
The Associates,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Blackbyrds,
The Raincoats,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ronnie Foster,
Donald Byrd,
Jandek,
The Sound,
Reuben Wilson,
Unwound,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Mr. Review,
Michelle Simonal,
Erykah Badu,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Franke,
Suicide,
Simply Red,
Oneida,
Darondo,
48th St. Collective,
Deakin,
K-Klass,
The Dirtbombs,
The Monochrome Set,
The Skatalites,
Eddi Front,
The Mummies,
The Fortunes,
The New Christs,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Roger Hodgson,
Moby Grape,
Magma,
Heaven 17,
Yusef Lateef,
The Remains,
Bauhaus,
Letta Mbulu,
Dawn Penn,
Anakelly,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Barracudas,
Man Parrish,
Schoolly D,
Shuggie Otis,
Lindisfarne,
Judy Mowatt,
CMW,
Depeche Mode,
Bobby Byrd,
Joy Division,
Piero Umiliani,
Rosa Yemen,
Black Flag,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.