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 Kazakhstan and from Accra.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 spring reverb 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 The Real Kids to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Sherman,
Lakeside,
John Lydon,
Pylon,
the Normal,
Essential Logic,
Gastr Del Sol,
Crispy Ambulance,
Scientists,
Moss Icon,
the Association,
Althea and Donna,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ralphi Rosario,
Aswad,
Ice-T,
Andrew Hill,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter & Gordon,
The Techniques,
Liliput,
The Kinks,
Altered Images,
Glenn Branca,
Jeff Mills,
Hot Snakes,
The Divine Comedy,
Second Layer,
Excepter,
Mission of Burma,
Jeff Lynne,
The Doors,
Danielle Patucci,
Harmonia,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Pop Group,
Eddi Front,
Howard Jones,
Monolake,
Circle Jerks,
Urselle,
Model 500,
The Modern Lovers,
Terry Callier,
Adolescents,
Spoonie Gee,
Black Flag,
Quando Quango,
Brothers Johnson,
Tom Boy,
Graham Central Station,
The Martian,
The Durutti Column,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
cv313,
Visage,
Severed Heads,
FM Einheit,
Quadrant,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
ABBA,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.