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 Qatar and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Shanghai.
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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Simply Red to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 E-Dancer. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonny Sharrock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Bowie,
Jawbox,
Khruangbin,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bush Tetras,
Kurtis Blow,
Urselle,
Public Image Ltd.,
Al Stewart,
John Lydon,
Sun City Girls,
JFA,
K-Klass,
Fugazi,
The Vogues,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crash Course in Science,
Depeche Mode,
A Certain Ratio,
Sight & Sound,
The Golliwogs,
The J.B.'s,
Rapeman,
Mission of Burma,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Kinks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Byron Stingily,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Graham Central Station,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Scion,
Lungfish,
Quando Quango,
Livin' Joy,
New York Dolls,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Human League,
Liliput,
Moebius,
Franke,
The Moleskins,
Easy Going,
Tropical Tobacco,
Quantec,
Roxy Music,
Japan,
The Sound,
ABBA,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Mummies,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Hardrive,
Don Cherry,
Gang Green,
The Selecter,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bad Manners,
Fad Gadget,
Rufus Thomas,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Reagan Youth,
Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti.
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.