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 Panama 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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 snare 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 Piero Umiliani to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Index record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Starr record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Pantytec,
Joey Negro,
Gichy Dan,
kango's stein massive,
Soul Sonic Force,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Velvet Underground,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Archie Shepp,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Simply Red,
Whodini,
The Flesh Eaters,
Marmalade,
The Angels of Light,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bauhaus,
Susan Cadogan,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Negative Approach,
Jeff Lynne,
AZ,
Little Man,
Alphaville,
Ronan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Moody Blues,
R.M.O.,
The Pop Group,
Ultravox,
Japan,
Ultra Naté,
Thompson Twins,
Wire,
Marvin Gaye,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brass Construction,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Radio Birdman,
Vainqueur,
Eric Copeland,
Alice Coltrane,
Bobby Sherman,
The Divine Comedy,
Deepchord,
Al Stewart,
Cal Tjader,
Au Pairs,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bobby Byrd,
B.T. Express,
The Star Department,
The Music Machine,
Tubeway Army,
Sixth Finger,
Excepter,
The Gun Club,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eurythmics,
Laurel Aitken,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Animal Collective,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.