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 Haiti and from Beijing.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Angry Samoans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fuzztones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stetsasonic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Tres Demented,
Gregory Isaacs,
R.M.O.,
Funkadelic,
The Index,
The Selecter,
Rod Modell,
Grauzone,
Sällskapet,
The Detroit Cobras,
LL Cool J,
Buzzcocks,
Roxette,
Gang Green,
The Red Krayola,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Slave,
Kerri Chandler,
Rhythm & Sound,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Michelle Simonal,
Fugazi,
Kerrie Biddell,
John Holt,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
K-Klass,
Jawbox,
Infiniti,
Funky Four + One,
Quando Quango,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
the Swans,
Pantaleimon,
Mary Jane Girls,
Minor Threat,
The Dave Clark Five,
cv313,
Avey Tare,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Camberwell Now,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Japan,
Motorama,
Faust,
DJ Sneak,
Metal Thangz,
Saccharine Trust,
Black Flag,
Al Stewart,
The Blackbyrds,
Marvin Gaye,
The Stooges,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Jacques Brel,
the Normal,
Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen.
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.