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 Bangladesh and from Taipei.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Silicon Teens to the rap 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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cheater Slicks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Television,
The Fugs,
Johnny Osbourne,
Funky Four + One,
Youth Brigade,
Idris Muhammad,
Yusef Lateef,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Fire Engines,
The Blackbyrds,
Man Parrish,
Danielle Patucci,
Archie Shepp,
Eurythmics,
The Grass Roots,
Eden Ahbez,
Pierre Henry,
Bob Dylan,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Black Dice,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Blues Magoos,
Tom Boy,
kango's stein massive,
The Index,
LL Cool J,
Faust,
Dave Gahan,
Electric Light Orchestra,
cv313,
Y Pants,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Brothers Johnson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Motions,
Black Sheep,
Michelle Simonal,
Black Flag,
The Raincoats,
Yaz,
Slave,
The Moleskins,
Ituana,
B.T. Express,
Skriet,
Scratch Acid,
Cameo,
the Bar-Kays,
The Dead C,
Negative Approach,
Unrelated Segments,
Henry Cow,
Sparks,
Bauhaus,
Cal Tjader,
The Cure,
Hardrive,
Lightning Bolt,
Pantaleimon,
Stereo Dub,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.