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 Guyana and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 snare 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 Lucky Dragons to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Procol Harum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Parry Music,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Offenders,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Knickerbockers,
Ken Boothe,
DJ Style,
Rhythm & Sound,
Symarip,
Section 25,
The Golliwogs,
Masters at Work,
Rod Modell,
Saccharine Trust,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pere Ubu,
the Soft Cell,
Sixth Finger,
La Düsseldorf,
Tropical Tobacco,
Yellowson,
Josef K,
Subhumans,
Heaven 17,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Blackbyrds,
Talk Talk,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Remains,
D'Angelo,
The Fugs,
Reuben Wilson,
The Gun Club,
the Sonics,
Ice-T,
Harry Pussy,
Echospace,
Wally Richardson,
Icehouse,
Black Pus,
Japan,
Terry Callier,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Basic Channel,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Star Department,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Youth Brigade,
Brothers Johnson,
Wire,
Eddi Front,
Quantec,
Big Daddy Kane,
Spoonie Gee,
F. McDonald,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Donny Hathaway,
Isaac Hayes,
The Walker Brothers,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.