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 St Lucia and from Copenhagen.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dave Clark Five to the grunge 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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barclay James Harvest 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pere Ubu,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Robert Wyatt,
Albert Ayler,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gastr Del Sol,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Nas,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marmalade,
Main Source,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Bluetip,
Patti Smith,
Rod Modell,
ABBA,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Quantec,
Soft Cell,
The J.B.'s,
Neu!,
Faraquet,
Smog,
Oblivians,
Erykah Badu,
The Evens,
Magma,
Urselle,
The Blackbyrds,
Bronski Beat,
Absolute Body Control,
Spoonie Gee,
The Human League,
Television,
DNA,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Five Americans,
Scientists,
ABC,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tears for Fears,
Harmonia,
Motorama,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Gun Club,
Nirvana,
Matthew Halsall,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
David Bowie,
Whodini,
The Alarm Clocks,
L. Decosne,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Radio Birdman,
Alton Ellis,
10cc,
Brass Construction,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Spandau Ballet,
In Retrospect,
Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless, Flash Fearless.
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.