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 Kiribati and from Tokyo.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Fatback Band 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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anakelly record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suburban Knight,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lee Hazlewood,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Scientists,
Jandek,
LL Cool J,
The Blues Magoos,
Godley & Creme,
June of 44,
Mantronix,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Durutti Column,
Kerri Chandler,
Girls At Our Best!,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Howard Jones,
The Fire Engines,
Banda Bassotti,
MC5,
Anthony Braxton,
Ralphi Rosario,
Yazoo,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Germs,
Bill Near,
Sound Behaviour,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Harpers Bizarre,
Youth Brigade,
The Real Kids,
Blake Baxter,
Roxette,
Television Personalities,
Jerry's Kids,
John Holt,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Beau Brummels,
The Cowsills,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kurtis Blow,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Zeros,
Sun Ra,
The Smiths,
JFA,
The Sound,
Peter & Gordon,
Wolf Eyes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gang Starr,
Minor Threat,
Bluetip,
Lebanon Hanover,
Henry Cow,
the Association,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Little Man,
David Axelrod,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.