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 Eritrea and from Portland.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 synthesizer 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 Eden Ahbez to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Isaac Hayes. All the underground hits.
All Steve Hackett tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Susan Cadogan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scott Walker,
Fluxion,
A Certain Ratio,
Sparks,
Davy DMX,
Ken Boothe,
Joey Negro,
Colin Newman,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Vogues,
Country Teasers,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobby Byrd,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gang of Four,
Lower 48,
Jeff Lynne,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Cosmic Jokers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Graham Central Station,
Wally Richardson,
John Coltrane,
Curtis Mayfield,
Flamin' Groovies,
Black Bananas,
Rod Modell,
Prince Buster,
Liliput,
Man Eating Sloth,
Mars,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Trojans,
Duran Duran,
John Cale,
a-ha,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Aaron Thompson,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Brass Construction,
Model 500,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Dawn Penn,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Stooges,
Connie Case,
Rites of Spring,
Delta 5,
Deepchord,
Circle Jerks,
The Fortunes,
48th St. Collective,
Niagra,
Lightning Bolt,
The Monks,
Nik Kershaw,
Nas,
Alton Ellis,
Wire,
Roxette,
Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young.
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.