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 Comoros and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Easy Going to the electroclash 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 Donny Hathaway. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Grass Roots,
Reuben Wilson,
Avey Tare,
Black Sheep,
Lucky Dragons,
The Cowsills,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Slits,
Marshall Jefferson,
Simply Red,
Crime,
Monolake,
Mad Mike,
Cecil Taylor,
Laurel Aitken,
Ken Boothe,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pussy Galore,
Robert Görl,
Malaria!,
John Foxx,
Fat Boys,
Rufus Thomas,
the Bar-Kays,
Kool Moe Dee,
Davy DMX,
Fugazi,
The Zeros,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Modern Lovers,
Joy Division,
Sunsets and Hearts,
OOIOO,
Make Up,
Ronan,
Alphaville,
Sällskapet,
The Walker Brothers,
David Bowie,
Lalo Schifrin,
Grauzone,
Faust,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
the Sonics,
The Fire Engines,
Panda Bear,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Flesh Eaters,
Albert Ayler,
Fela Kuti,
Aural Exciters,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Deadbeat,
Boredoms,
Livin' Joy,
Mr. Review,
Monks,
One Last Wish,
Urselle,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.