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 East Timor and from Mexico City.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dirtbombs to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All Howard Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Evens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marine Girls,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Radiopuhelimet,
Max Romeo,
Skarface,
Big Daddy Kane,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Skatalites,
Absolute Body Control,
Kerrie Biddell,
Public Enemy,
The Stooges,
the Human League,
The Knickerbockers,
Alison Limerick,
Joy Division,
Scratch Acid,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rapeman,
Bush Tetras,
Chris & Cosey,
The Misunderstood,
Dennis Brown,
Ultra Naté,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
MDC,
Cluster,
The Divine Comedy,
Supertramp,
Circle Jerks,
Section 25,
Anakelly,
Joe Finger,
Porter Ricks,
Dual Sessions,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tom Boy,
Sonic Youth,
Visage,
The Sound,
Black Sheep,
Tommy Roe,
Young Marble Giants,
Jeff Lynne,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Japan,
Shuggie Otis,
Ornette Coleman,
Jacques Brel,
Minutemen,
The Toasters,
Funkadelic,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Eden Ahbez,
Bootsy Collins,
Lou Reed,
Bob Dylan,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Moleskins,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brass Construction,
Fugazi,
Robert Hood,
June of 44,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.