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 Belize and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 sitar 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 Freddie Wadling to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Funky Four + One. All the underground hits.
All The Cramps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Susan Cadogan,
the Bar-Kays,
Surgeon,
Audionom,
OOIOO,
Ituana,
Moby Grape,
The Gladiators,
The New Christs,
Youth Brigade,
Pere Ubu,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
X-101,
The Trojans,
MDC,
Royal Trux,
Accadde A,
Fluxion,
Tears for Fears,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Khruangbin,
Gichy Dan,
Con Funk Shun,
The Walker Brothers,
The Blues Magoos,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jeru the Damaja,
K-Klass,
Sparks,
The Zeros,
Swell Maps,
a-ha,
DNA,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bill Near,
ABC,
the Human League,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
X-Ray Spex,
The Gun Club,
Amon Düül,
Spandau Ballet,
Drive Like Jehu,
cv313,
Simply Red,
The Slackers,
Stiv Bators,
Lakeside,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gil Scott Heron,
Basic Channel,
Depeche Mode,
The Cowsills,
the Association,
Section 25,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Matthew Bourne,
The Fortunes,
Funky Four + One,
One Last Wish,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.