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 Maldives and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Barclay James Harvest to the grunge 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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Smooth,
Grey Daturas,
John Lydon,
Man Parrish,
Trumans Water,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Seeds,
Babytalk,
Roy Ayers,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Neon Judgement,
Eurythmics,
The Evens,
Sun Ra,
The Doors,
Mantronix,
The Raincoats,
L. Decosne,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Flash Fearless,
Jacob Miller,
Janne Schatter,
Dennis Brown,
Symarip,
Ralphi Rosario,
X-101,
Radiopuhelimet,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Girls At Our Best!,
World's Most,
John Holt,
D'Angelo,
Interpol,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Sound,
Zero Boys,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Leonard Cohen,
The Beau Brummels,
David Axelrod,
Dead Boys,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Man Eating Sloth,
Susan Cadogan,
Oneida,
The Smoke,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kaleidoscope,
Skriet,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Au Pairs,
Brand Nubian,
The Red Krayola,
Pole,
The Selecter,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.