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 Iraq and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Wolf Eyes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gun Club record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Heaven 17,
La Düsseldorf,
Charles Mingus,
Bobby Sherman,
Amon Düül II,
Unwound,
Reuben Wilson,
Minny Pops,
Dual Sessions,
Moss Icon,
The Associates,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
James White and The Blacks,
Scott Walker,
Roger Hodgson,
Stereo Dub,
The Gories,
Skarface,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Moleskins,
Robert Wyatt,
Electric Prunes,
Desert Stars,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Star Department,
Delta 5,
Joensuu 1685,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Mummies,
DJ Sneak,
Mr. Review,
Trumans Water,
Silicon Teens,
Funky Four + One,
Grandmaster Flash,
Surgeon,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fear,
World's Most,
Fatback Band,
Royal Trux,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Half Japanese,
The Martian,
Yazoo,
Ultravox,
Sandy B,
Gang Green,
Lou Reed,
Grauzone,
Can,
The Red Krayola,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Young Rascals,
Bauhaus,
Dave Gahan,
Donny Hathaway,
Glambeats Corp.,
Dead Boys,
Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now.
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.