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 Djibouti and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 snare 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 David Axelrod to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All The Moleskins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Unrelated Segments record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bob Dylan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Gastr Del Sol,
Terry Callier,
Radiohead,
Guru Guru,
Angry Samoans,
Mandrill,
Fugazi,
Lightning Bolt,
The Zeros,
Todd Rundgren,
Swell Maps,
Funkadelic,
Lucky Dragons,
The Beau Brummels,
Arab on Radar,
The Saints,
EPMD,
One Last Wish,
T. Rex,
Kurtis Blow,
Flash Fearless,
Darondo,
Loose Ends,
Bang On A Can,
The Busters,
Camberwell Now,
Stiv Bators,
Jandek,
Marine Girls,
Joyce Sims,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Kinks,
Alison Limerick,
Steve Hackett,
Boogie Down Productions,
Derrick May,
The Durutti Column,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Wolf Eyes,
Eric Copeland,
Cybotron,
Matthew Bourne,
the Human League,
Fela Kuti,
Kool Moe Dee,
Cheater Slicks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Amazonics,
Moss Icon,
The Litter,
Charles Mingus,
The Walker Brothers,
OOIOO,
Buzzcocks,
Dark Day,
Althea and Donna,
Nick Fraelich,
Marvin Gaye,
The Last Poets,
Gabor Szabo,
Roxy Music,
The Moleskins,
Aloha Tigers,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.