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 Tajikistan and from Spokane.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Neon Judgement to the grime 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 The Fugs. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Bobby Sherman,
Erasure,
Albert Ayler,
Iggy Pop,
Animal Collective,
Pagans,
kango's stein massive,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Heaven 17,
John Lydon,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Toasters,
Gong,
Pylon,
Livin' Joy,
Rufus Thomas,
D'Angelo,
AZ,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Zapp,
Arab on Radar,
Flamin' Groovies,
Simply Red,
Janne Schatter,
Section 25,
Cheater Slicks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Smoke,
Patti Smith,
Freddie Wadling,
The Seeds,
Peter & Gordon,
Minor Threat,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ultravox,
The Birthday Party,
Technova,
Prince Buster,
The Neon Judgement,
Sixth Finger,
Swans,
Pierre Henry,
Grauzone,
The Smiths,
T.S.O.L.,
Severed Heads,
DNA,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Johnny Clarke,
Ultimate Spinach,
Grey Daturas,
Skriet,
the Slits,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Five Americans,
Moebius,
The Shadows of Knight,
Donny Hathaway,
The Grass Roots,
Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.
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.