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 Gambia and from Seoul.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 In Retrospect to the techno 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 Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Eating Sloth,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Music Machine,
The Mighty Diamonds,
New York Dolls,
Ultravox,
The Divine Comedy,
The Star Department,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Altered Images,
The Litter,
The Smiths,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Red Krayola,
Absolute Body Control,
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Simply Red,
Agitation Free,
The Dave Clark Five,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Fatback Band,
Fela Kuti,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Nik Kershaw,
Funky Four + One,
John Holt,
Cymande,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Durutti Column,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bill Wells,
Pulsallama,
Vladislav Delay,
Chrome,
Flash Fearless,
Bootsy Collins,
Sällskapet,
Eric Copeland,
Pharoah Sanders,
AZ,
Lightning Bolt,
Amazonics,
Kaleidoscope,
Alice Coltrane,
Bauhaus,
The Slackers,
Roger Hodgson,
Kas Product,
Bobby Byrd,
Crispian St. Peters,
Boredoms,
Franke,
Von Mondo,
Theoretical Girls,
Yusef Lateef,
The Zeros,
Das Ding,
Pantytec,
The Barracudas,
The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America.
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.