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 Russia and from Lille.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro 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 Althea and Donna to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Bizarre Inc.,
Television Personalities,
Essential Logic,
Stiv Bators,
Barry Ungar,
Robert Wyatt,
Subhumans,
Yazoo,
Pussy Galore,
Ronan,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ossler,
Barbara Tucker,
Roxy Music,
Connie Case,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Talk Talk,
The Moody Blues,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
World's Most,
Sexual Harrassment,
DNA,
Reuben Wilson,
Fat Boys,
Babytalk,
Glenn Branca,
Shuggie Otis,
Faraquet,
E-Dancer,
Duran Duran,
Stetsasonic,
Cheater Slicks,
Bobby Byrd,
MC5,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Real Kids,
Index,
Piero Umiliani,
Accadde A,
Wings,
The Birthday Party,
Los Fastidios,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cymande,
Black Moon,
Sam Rivers,
Kerrie Biddell,
Marvin Gaye,
Radio Birdman,
Nation of Ulysses,
Little Man,
Rhythm & Sound,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bluetip,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
EPMD,
The Evens,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.