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 Tanzania 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 Paris and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Junior Murvin to the jazz 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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultravox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sexual Harrassment,
Lou Christie,
The Saints,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Names,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Echospace,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nick Fraelich,
Grey Daturas,
Gastr Del Sol,
Anakelly,
Fad Gadget,
Joyce Sims,
X-Ray Spex,
JFA,
Wasted Youth,
Quadrant,
Ornette Coleman,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Gap Band,
Inner City,
Ituana,
Glambeats Corp.,
Marine Girls,
Rufus Thomas,
Girls At Our Best!,
Harpers Bizarre,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Flesh Eaters,
Talk Talk,
Black Sheep,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Banda Bassotti,
Deepchord,
Ossler,
Mark Hollis,
Ultra Naté,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Divine Comedy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Germs,
Henry Cow,
One Last Wish,
Minor Threat,
Donny Hathaway,
Panda Bear,
Tres Demented,
Joe Finger,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Monochrome Set,
Ponytail,
Soft Cell,
Traffic Nightmare,
Black Pus,
The Fuzztones,
The Sound,
The Standells,
The Litter,
the Human League, the Human League, the Human League, the Human League.
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.