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 Uganda 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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 808 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 Eric Copeland 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 Busters. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dead Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eli Mardock,
Scan 7,
Bad Manners,
UT,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Music Machine,
The Index,
cv313,
The Fortunes,
Leonard Cohen,
The Raincoats,
Erasure,
Magma,
The Pop Group,
Mission of Burma,
Camberwell Now,
David Bowie,
The Buckinghams,
June of 44,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Green,
Television Personalities,
Bill Near,
Kayak,
Lindisfarne,
The Techniques,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Rakim,
Q65,
Half Japanese,
The Vogues,
Carl Craig,
Drive Like Jehu,
Idris Muhammad,
Bob Dylan,
Robert Görl,
Fat Boys,
Subhumans,
Qualms,
The Golliwogs,
Bronski Beat,
Banda Bassotti,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Theoretical Girls,
Sonic Youth,
The Electric Prunes,
Soul II Soul,
The Skatalites,
Mo-Dettes,
Eurythmics,
New York Dolls,
Altered Images,
Monolake,
the Swans,
Slick Rick,
Alphaville,
Simply Red,
Q and Not U,
Eden Ahbez,
Terry Callier,
Cal Tjader,
Dawn Penn,
Main Source, Main Source, Main Source, Main Source.
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.