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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Paris.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron to the dance 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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Five Americans,
Agitation Free,
Dead Boys,
John Foxx,
Organ,
Tropical Tobacco,
Lungfish,
The Human League,
The Alarm Clocks,
Yazoo,
Al Stewart,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Junior Murvin,
The American Breed,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Minor Threat,
Maleditus Sound,
Deepchord,
The Moleskins,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pharoah Sanders,
La Düsseldorf,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Infiniti,
Altered Images,
The Real Kids,
Charles Mingus,
Unwound,
the Germs,
The Mummies,
KRS-One,
Tim Buckley,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Mo-Dettes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Knickerbockers,
Make Up,
Reagan Youth,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Skatalites,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Dirtbombs,
Warren Ellis,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter & Gordon,
Niagra,
the Fania All-Stars,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Bill Wells,
Kerrie Biddell,
Babytalk,
Lightning Bolt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Ponytail,
Scott Walker,
Bobby Sherman,
New Order,
ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC.
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.