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 New Zealand and from Mumbai.
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 New York and Jakarta.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Alison Limerick to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jeru the Damaja. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Delon & Dalcan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Gabor Szabo,
The Fire Engines,
Severed Heads,
Avey Tare,
The Invisible,
10cc,
The Trojans,
Derrick May,
Ponytail,
The Cowsills,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Moby Grape,
Girls At Our Best!,
Junior Murvin,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Index,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Suburban Knight,
Agitation Free,
The Modern Lovers,
Gang Green,
Gang Starr,
Radio Birdman,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Doobie Brothers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mantronix,
Nirvana,
Peter and Kerry,
Lyres,
Crispian St. Peters,
Marine Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Hashim,
Sam Rivers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
E-Dancer,
Ituana,
Judy Mowatt,
Scott Walker,
Faraquet,
Reuben Wilson,
Inner City,
The Names,
Black Pus,
Todd Terry,
The Smiths,
Kaleidoscope,
Accadde A,
Sarah Menescal,
Lucky Dragons,
Gong,
Maurizio,
The Happenings,
Interpol,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Human League,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Arcadia,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.