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 Sri Lanka and from Manila.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 808 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 In Retrospect to the jazz 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a One Last Wish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gories,
Make Up,
Camberwell Now,
The Leaves,
Public Image Ltd.,
Anthony Braxton,
Rapeman,
Fela Kuti,
Dead Boys,
June Days,
Jeff Mills,
Rotary Connection,
Sister Nancy,
Eli Mardock,
X-102,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Animal Collective,
Chris Corsano,
Pagans,
The Fire Engines,
Ultimate Spinach,
Juan Atkins,
Moss Icon,
Boredoms,
Malaria!,
The Flesh Eaters,
John Lydon,
Piero Umiliani,
David Bowie,
Deakin,
The Index,
The Seeds,
Peter & Gordon,
T.S.O.L.,
Rhythm & Sound,
Janne Schatter,
Bauhaus,
The Evens,
Big Daddy Kane,
La Düsseldorf,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Ohio Players,
Barrington Levy,
John Cale,
Pantaleimon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Intrusion,
Jeff Lynne,
Theoretical Girls,
Rekid,
Albert Ayler,
The Techniques,
The Gun Club,
Terry Callier,
Crooked Eye,
Soft Cell,
Nirvana,
Letta Mbulu,
Duran Duran,
Motorama,
Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls.
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.