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 Belarus and from Bremen.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Madrid.
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 synthesizer 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 Nik Kershaw to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül II,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bush Tetras,
Minny Pops,
T.S.O.L.,
Hot Snakes,
Flipper,
The Dead C,
The Trojans,
Eli Mardock,
Barclay James Harvest,
David McCallum,
The Victims,
Barrington Levy,
Von Mondo,
Brand Nubian,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Blues Magoos,
In Retrospect,
Young Marble Giants,
Camberwell Now,
Sex Pistols,
Kerrie Biddell,
New Age Steppers,
Joe Smooth,
The Beau Brummels,
Tubeway Army,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Fortunes,
Ossler,
Zero Boys,
Bronski Beat,
Ponytail,
Glambeats Corp.,
Outsiders,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Suburban Knight,
Charles Mingus,
Khruangbin,
The Birthday Party,
Dawn Penn,
Bad Manners,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
X-101,
The Misunderstood,
Negative Approach,
Royal Trux,
Lightning Bolt,
Pet Shop Boys,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
cv313,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The United States of America,
Derrick May,
Pierre Henry,
The Knickerbockers,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Byron Stingily,
Jesper Dahlback,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.