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 Cape Verde and from Toronto.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Bronski Beat to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
Amazonics,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Aural Exciters,
The Black Dice,
FM Einheit,
Minutemen,
Sonic Youth,
Shuggie Otis,
Pierre Henry,
Ice-T,
The J.B.'s,
EPMD,
James White and The Blacks,
In Retrospect,
The Mummies,
Rosa Yemen,
The Fugs,
Prince Buster,
Danielle Patucci,
Q and Not U,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Fire Engines,
DNA,
The Standells,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ultimate Spinach,
ABBA,
The Monochrome Set,
Alison Limerick,
Neu!,
Amon Düül,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Blues Magoos,
Jeru the Damaja,
CMW,
Massinfluence,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Golliwogs,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Althea and Donna,
Hardrive,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Gap Band,
Jandek,
Icehouse,
Chris & Cosey,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
a-ha,
the Normal,
The Cramps,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ohio Players,
Hoover,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Josef K,
Bill Wells,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Chrome,
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.