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 Seychelles and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
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 The Pretty Things to the rock 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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Ultravox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Talk Talk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Zero Boys,
Pylon,
Tres Demented,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Real Kids,
Nirvana,
DNA,
The Monks,
Brass Construction,
Kerrie Biddell,
Susan Cadogan,
Chrome,
L. Decosne,
David McCallum,
Yusef Lateef,
Crooked Eye,
Sex Pistols,
Charles Mingus,
Gichy Dan,
Johnny Clarke,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Birthday Party,
The Mojo Men,
Audionom,
the Fania All-Stars,
John Foxx,
Ultra Naté,
the Slits,
Soft Cell,
Pet Shop Boys,
Heaven 17,
8 Eyed Spy,
Robert Görl,
Monks,
Ituana,
Sonny Sharrock,
the Bar-Kays,
Gang Starr,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Goldenarms,
The Knickerbockers,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bobby Sherman,
Pantytec,
Second Layer,
The New Christs,
Malaria!,
Avey Tare,
Tears for Fears,
Hoover,
Minutemen,
Q and Not U,
The Beau Brummels,
The Fugs,
Eurythmics,
Qualms,
The Vogues,
Boz Scaggs,
Crime,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.