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 Qatar and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 New Age Steppers. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aaron Thompson 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
Marshall Jefferson,
Tommy Roe,
The Barracudas,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Byron Stingily,
Derrick Morgan,
Blake Baxter,
Das Ding,
In Retrospect,
Camberwell Now,
The Alarm Clocks,
Glambeats Corp.,
the Association,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Divine Comedy,
Jacob Miller,
Hot Snakes,
Swans,
The Evens,
Brothers Johnson,
D'Angelo,
Sugar Minott,
Terry Callier,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Sonic Youth,
Essential Logic,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Tubeway Army,
JFA,
Aswad,
Peter & Gordon,
Pole,
Lalann,
Youth Brigade,
The Associates,
Gil Scott Heron,
cv313,
Lakeside,
Au Pairs,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Harry Pussy,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Reed,
Ossler,
Maurizio,
The Monks,
Deepchord,
These Immortal Souls,
The Blackbyrds,
Black Pus,
The Gladiators,
Porter Ricks,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
China Crisis,
The Slits,
Freddie Wadling,
Joey Negro,
The Golliwogs,
The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites.
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.