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 Djibouti and from Tokyo.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Saints to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Index 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bizarre Inc.,
the Normal,
Althea and Donna,
New Age Steppers,
Adolescents,
Brass Construction,
Japan,
Dual Sessions,
AZ,
Visage,
Aaron Thompson,
Susan Cadogan,
The Fortunes,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Prince Buster,
Lalann,
Rosa Yemen,
Jesper Dahlback,
Minutemen,
Masters at Work,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Durutti Column,
Buzzcocks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Delta 5,
Charles Mingus,
Silicon Teens,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Sonics,
Popol Vuh,
Gong,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Cale,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Cowsills,
Sarah Menescal,
The Gun Club,
The Trojans,
Los Fastidios,
Eve St. Jones,
Interpol,
Ken Boothe,
Bobby Byrd,
Dead Boys,
D'Angelo,
Nas,
Barry Ungar,
Flash Fearless,
Mantronix,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Brick,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Carl Craig,
Alison Limerick,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Soft Cell,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Misunderstood,
Television Personalities,
Moss Icon,
The Dirtbombs,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.