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 Malawi and from Houston.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pagans to the rock 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 The Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Country Joe & The Fish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marine Girls 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Subhumans,
Warren Ellis,
The Modern Lovers,
Blancmange,
Pere Ubu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Darondo,
Aural Exciters,
PIL,
Jandek,
Jacques Brel,
Agitation Free,
Jeff Mills,
Absolute Body Control,
Avey Tare,
Lungfish,
Tim Buckley,
The Durutti Column,
Ultravox,
Mr. Review,
Harpers Bizarre,
Big Daddy Kane,
Joe Finger,
Jawbox,
Neu!,
The Smiths,
Lindisfarne,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Organ,
The Dead C,
Japan,
FM Einheit,
New York Dolls,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Sarah Menescal,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Red Krayola,
Theoretical Girls,
The Fire Engines,
The Pretty Things,
Godley & Creme,
Howard Jones,
Graham Central Station,
David McCallum,
Black Sheep,
Tom Boy,
Qualms,
Faraquet,
Liliput,
Gang Starr,
Slick Rick,
Erykah Badu,
KRS-One,
Intrusion,
Sonny Sharrock,
Al Stewart,
Guru Guru,
JFA,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pole,
Warsaw,
China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis.
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.