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 Cuba and from Bremen.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin 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 Black Moon to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All The Music Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Idris Muhammad,
Wings,
Adolescents,
Colin Newman,
Fela Kuti,
Interpol,
The Velvet Underground,
The Techniques,
The Remains,
These Immortal Souls,
Mary Jane Girls,
Nick Fraelich,
Groovy Waters,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Invisible,
Soul II Soul,
Skaos,
The Birthday Party,
Ten City,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sonny Sharrock,
Gabor Szabo,
Mission of Burma,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Buckinghams,
Al Stewart,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Juan Atkins,
Camouflage,
CMW,
The Modern Lovers,
Roy Ayers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Pagans,
Shoche,
Maurizio,
Reuben Wilson,
Henry Cow,
Von Mondo,
Joensuu 1685,
DNA,
Ultimate Spinach,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Kenny Larkin,
Black Moon,
Swans,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Steve Hackett,
Das Ding,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Judy Mowatt,
Bobby Byrd,
Fugazi,
Rites of Spring,
Eric B and Rakim,
Arcadia,
the Swans,
Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols.
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.