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 Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Youth Brigade to the electroclash 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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Urselle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists 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 a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Enemy,
Slick Rick,
The Cure,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Anakelly,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Walker Brothers,
Television Personalities,
The Monochrome Set,
Todd Terry,
The Misunderstood,
Quando Quango,
Quantec,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Absolute Body Control,
Mission of Burma,
The Smoke,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Marc Almond,
Maurizio,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Boredoms,
Arcadia,
Stiv Bators,
Byron Stingily,
James White and The Blacks,
the Human League,
Stetsasonic,
Radio Birdman,
Liliput,
Joe Smooth,
Mars,
Bang On A Can,
Bizarre Inc.,
Popol Vuh,
Vainqueur,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Youth Brigade,
Soft Cell,
Ornette Coleman,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gang Green,
Lee Hazlewood,
Brass Construction,
Von Mondo,
EPMD,
Index,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
K-Klass,
Moby Grape,
The Barracudas,
Gong,
Junior Murvin,
Cluster,
The Searchers,
Blancmange,
The Dead C,
AZ,
Donny Hathaway,
The Busters,
Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX.
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.