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 Papua New Guinea and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Archie Shepp to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bobby Sherman. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gian Franco Pienzio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Archie Shepp,
The Tremeloes,
Spoonie Gee,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Aaron Thompson,
Robert Görl,
Gang Gang Dance,
MDC,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Crash Course in Science,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gang of Four,
A Certain Ratio,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Detroit Cobras,
Dawn Penn,
Warsaw,
Traffic Nightmare,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brothers Johnson,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Depeche Mode,
Gong,
Bob Dylan,
Royal Trux,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Real Kids,
Crooked Eye,
The Busters,
Alphaville,
Sun Ra,
Moss Icon,
Rekid,
The Standells,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Juan Atkins,
the Slits,
Ponytail,
June of 44,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Absolute Body Control,
Ten City,
Altered Images,
Black Sheep,
EPMD,
the Normal,
Malaria!,
Ronan,
Slick Rick,
The American Breed,
Joyce Sims,
Rufus Thomas,
The Techniques,
Amon Düül,
Fluxion,
Fatback Band,
Fela Kuti,
La Düsseldorf,
Erasure,
Interpol, Interpol, Interpol, Interpol.
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.