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 Sri Lanka 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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Black Flag to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pretty Things record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Eurythmics,
Wings,
Reagan Youth,
a-ha,
Eric Copeland,
Blossom Toes,
Quadrant,
Niagra,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Modern Lovers,
Young Marble Giants,
Camouflage,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gang Starr,
Banda Bassotti,
Adolescents,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
JFA,
Oblivians,
X-Ray Spex,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bizarre Inc.,
Mark Hollis,
The Toasters,
In Retrospect,
The Gories,
Sexual Harrassment,
Aswad,
Jeff Mills,
Deepchord,
Robert Görl,
One Last Wish,
Peter & Gordon,
Gregory Isaacs,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Dirtbombs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kenny Larkin,
Prince Buster,
Fad Gadget,
Funkadelic,
Ludus,
Organ,
New Order,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Procol Harum,
Crispian St. Peters,
Dave Gahan,
H. Thieme,
Zero Boys,
Sister Nancy,
Davy DMX,
The Mojo Men,
Theoretical Girls,
Max Romeo,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.