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 Taiwan and from Columbus.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 linndrum 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 Hoover to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Popol Vuh tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Prince Buster 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy Collins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Warren Ellis,
Gang Green,
Oblivians,
Sex Pistols,
Ultra Naté,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Nils Olav,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Gladiators,
Faust,
U.S. Maple,
Minnie Riperton,
Flipper,
June Days,
Khruangbin,
Goldenarms,
Rhythm & Sound,
Half Japanese,
Henry Cow,
Das Ding,
Neil Young,
The Wake,
Dennis Brown,
cv313,
T.S.O.L.,
John Cale,
Cluster,
Hoover,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ultravox,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Idris Muhammad,
Heaven 17,
Quadrant,
Neu!,
Bluetip,
The Count Five,
The Detroit Cobras,
These Immortal Souls,
Bobby Byrd,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Scion,
Black Bananas,
The Mojo Men,
Talk Talk,
Man Parrish,
Outsiders,
Bob Dylan,
Harry Pussy,
Sound Behaviour,
Lee Hazlewood,
Roger Hodgson,
The Toasters,
The Alarm Clocks,
Peter and Kerry,
Zapp,
Patti Smith,
Nas,
Quando Quango,
John Coltrane,
June of 44, June of 44, June of 44, June of 44.
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.