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 Libya and from Johannesburg.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Sao Paulo.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Echo & the Bunnymen to the techno 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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Glambeats Corp.,
The Standells,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Eric Copeland,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Symarip,
The New Christs,
Aaron Thompson,
Minnie Riperton,
Grandmaster Flash,
Skaos,
F. McDonald,
Nirvana,
Terry Callier,
The Last Poets,
K-Klass,
Scan 7,
Albert Ayler,
The Offenders,
Faraquet,
The Buckinghams,
ABC,
Ronan,
The Saints,
Man Eating Sloth,
Spandau Ballet,
EPMD,
Sarah Menescal,
Ultravox,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Marshall Jefferson,
Alice Coltrane,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ponytail,
Crime,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Seeds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Hardrive,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Don Cherry,
Nils Olav,
The Happenings,
the Swans,
The Knickerbockers,
Jawbox,
Gong,
Minor Threat,
The Fortunes,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Searchers,
Sister Nancy,
MDC,
Wolf Eyes,
New York Dolls,
Radio Birdman,
Black Pus,
Sound Behaviour,
The Five Americans,
Lee Hazlewood,
Donny Hathaway,
Archie Shepp,
R.M.O.,
Heavy D & The Boyz, Heavy D & The Boyz, Heavy D & The Boyz, Heavy D & The Boyz.
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.