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 Swaziland and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Angry Samoans to the grime 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 Ten City. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Star Department record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Chrome,
The Black Dice,
Yaz,
Wire,
Scan 7,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Glenn Branca,
Traffic Nightmare,
Duran Duran,
The Tremeloes,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Mission of Burma,
Slave,
The Wake,
Das Ding,
The Vogues,
Pet Shop Boys,
Agent Orange,
Porter Ricks,
Eric Dolphy,
Dave Gahan,
Lou Christie,
The Toasters,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bill Wells,
The Misunderstood,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Thompson Twins,
Gang of Four,
Newcleus,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Darondo,
Dennis Brown,
The Associates,
Arab on Radar,
Matthew Bourne,
Youth Brigade,
Crispy Ambulance,
Essential Logic,
Lakeside,
Crooked Eye,
Jesper Dahlback,
Zapp,
Byron Stingily,
Khruangbin,
Albert Ayler,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Names,
Letta Mbulu,
Erasure,
Fifty Foot Hose,
DNA,
Hardrive,
Barbara Tucker,
Nico,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Radiopuhelimet,
Brothers Johnson,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bluetip,
The Smoke,
Theoretical Girls,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.