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 Mauritania and from Philadelphia.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Thee Headcoats to the jazz 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 These Immortal Souls. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tubeway Army 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?
Minnie Riperton,
UT,
The Moody Blues,
Rakim,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
These Immortal Souls,
Davy DMX,
Altered Images,
Stetsasonic,
The Cramps,
Eddi Front,
Jeff Lynne,
Marcia Griffiths,
Schoolly D,
The Star Department,
Zapp,
Fela Kuti,
Robert Görl,
Glenn Branca,
Albert Ayler,
Cheater Slicks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Heaven 17,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Jandek,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kenny Larkin,
The Offenders,
L. Decosne,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Lee Hazlewood,
Hot Snakes,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Second Layer,
Simply Red,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lower 48,
The Invisible,
Y Pants,
Blossom Toes,
Hashim,
Andrew Hill,
Black Flag,
Depeche Mode,
Peter and Kerry,
Kaleidoscope,
The Gap Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
Motorama,
Tears for Fears,
Q65,
The Pretty Things,
The Smoke,
Wolf Eyes,
Max Romeo,
The Doors,
Colin Newman,
The Slackers,
Circle Jerks,
Aswad,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.