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 Tanzania and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 clarinet 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 Fear to the punk 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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Loose Ends tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths 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 chamberlin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fela Kuti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Von Mondo,
Pantaleimon,
Howard Jones,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sun Ra,
Spandau Ballet,
The Victims,
Basic Channel,
June Days,
Royal Trux,
Fatback Band,
The Human League,
Trumans Water,
The Cowsills,
Prince Buster,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gong,
Inner City,
Rapeman,
The Smoke,
John Holt,
Clear Light,
Lou Christie,
Whodini,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Brothers Johnson,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
PIL,
A Certain Ratio,
Magazine,
Neil Young,
The Tremeloes,
Agent Orange,
Y Pants,
Tropical Tobacco,
Black Bananas,
Brand Nubian,
June of 44,
Graham Central Station,
The Barracudas,
Peter and Kerry,
Das Ding,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sugar Minott,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Boz Scaggs,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lyres,
Eric Copeland,
John Lydon,
Metal Thangz,
Amon Düül II,
Monks,
The Names,
World's Most,
The Standells,
David Axelrod,
The American Breed,
Section 25,
Max Romeo,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.