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 South Sudan and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 arpeggiator 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 Germs to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Arcadia. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thompson Twins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Bobby Womack record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Liliput,
Junior Murvin,
Chrome,
The Count Five,
OOIOO,
L. Decosne,
Nas,
Stereo Dub,
Fugazi,
The Evens,
Marvin Gaye,
Masters at Work,
The Seeds,
The Cramps,
Groovy Waters,
The Blues Magoos,
Motorama,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Zapp,
Quando Quango,
The Fuzztones,
Surgeon,
Ornette Coleman,
R.M.O.,
Harmonia,
Jacques Brel,
The Sonics,
Gerry Rafferty,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The New Christs,
Yusef Lateef,
H. Thieme,
Ralphi Rosario,
Terrestrial Tones,
Juan Atkins,
Arcadia,
David Axelrod,
Glambeats Corp.,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Soulsonic Force,
Isaac Hayes,
Erasure,
Matthew Bourne,
Talk Talk,
Prince Buster,
The Neon Judgement,
Ronan,
48th St. Collective,
The Vogues,
Japan,
Model 500,
Barry Ungar,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rapeman,
The Detroit Cobras,
Stockholm Monsters,
Interpol,
The Fugs,
T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L., T.S.O.L..
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.