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 Lesotho and from Seoul.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 arpeggiator 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 Monolake to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All The Residents tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Albert Ayler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nirvana,
B.T. Express,
The Stooges,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Dual Sessions,
Loose Ends,
Gregory Isaacs,
Newcleus,
D'Angelo,
JFA,
Johnny Osbourne,
cv313,
The Gladiators,
Maurizio,
Spoonie Gee,
Slick Rick,
New York Dolls,
Pere Ubu,
Sarah Menescal,
Charles Mingus,
Basic Channel,
Bill Wells,
The Misunderstood,
The Doobie Brothers,
Von Mondo,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lou Christie,
Brick,
Grandmaster Flash,
Rekid,
Barry Ungar,
Derrick Morgan,
The Busters,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eden Ahbez,
The Barracudas,
Unwound,
The Index,
Janne Schatter,
Aswad,
Albert Ayler,
Black Bananas,
The Velvet Underground,
Royal Trux,
Crispy Ambulance,
Saccharine Trust,
The Gories,
Gabor Szabo,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pantytec,
Fat Boys,
Black Sheep,
Flipper,
Neil Young,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kurtis Blow,
Darondo,
The Golliwogs,
The Electric Prunes,
the Soft Cell,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.