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 Oman and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Erasure to the disco 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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Royal Trux,
Anakelly,
Wire,
Porter Ricks,
Soft Machine,
Delon & Dalcan,
Barbara Tucker,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Swell Maps,
Stiv Bators,
Fugazi,
Rites of Spring,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Gories,
Piero Umiliani,
The Blues Magoos,
The Barracudas,
The Golliwogs,
Leonard Cohen,
cv313,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Neon Judgement,
Flipper,
Brothers Johnson,
The Count Five,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Kurtis Blow,
Don Cherry,
Babytalk,
The Doobie Brothers,
Cal Tjader,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Shuggie Otis,
Visage,
One Last Wish,
The Fuzztones,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Boz Scaggs,
The Slits,
Model 500,
The Index,
Outsiders,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tubeway Army,
Soft Cell,
Eddi Front,
Faust,
Kerrie Biddell,
Faraquet,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Qualms,
Mark Hollis,
Goldenarms,
Moss Icon,
Vladislav Delay,
Youth Brigade,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Janne Schatter,
Charles Mingus,
Gang Starr,
Bobby Womack,
Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls.
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.