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 Sierra Leone 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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Eurythmics 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 Eurythmics. All the underground hits.
All Ludus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Eating Sloth,
Depeche Mode,
Alphaville,
The Knickerbockers,
Marvin Gaye,
Fear,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Stooges,
Stiv Bators,
In Retrospect,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Arthur Verocai,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Nas,
PIL,
Connie Case,
Organ,
Fat Boys,
Angry Samoans,
Main Source,
Slick Rick,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eli Mardock,
The Music Machine,
Rakim,
Schoolly D,
the Sonics,
DJ Sneak,
Stetsasonic,
Brick,
Tom Boy,
Pierre Henry,
Average White Band,
Sister Nancy,
AZ,
Ash Ra Tempel,
John Lydon,
Franke,
Little Man,
X-101,
Thee Headcoats,
Pantaleimon,
Second Layer,
China Crisis,
Ultravox,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Real Kids,
Deakin,
John Holt,
Hasil Adkins,
Donny Hathaway,
Swans,
The Standells,
Lalann,
10cc,
Khruangbin,
Siglo XX,
ABC,
Funky Four + One,
Morten Harket,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.