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 Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 guitar 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 Silicon Teens to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Eve St. Jones. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Japan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Light Orchestra,
Country Joe & The Fish,
FM Einheit,
New York Dolls,
B.T. Express,
The Sonics,
Panda Bear,
The Cowsills,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Mark Hollis,
Bootsy Collins,
U.S. Maple,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
These Immortal Souls,
Peter & Gordon,
Khruangbin,
June Days,
Isaac Hayes,
Quantec,
Derrick May,
Kerri Chandler,
Swell Maps,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Johnny Osbourne,
Alice Coltrane,
Archie Shepp,
Main Source,
Sun City Girls,
Joe Finger,
Nation of Ulysses,
Circle Jerks,
Tears for Fears,
The Names,
Agent Orange,
Swans,
Joey Negro,
Colin Newman,
Crime,
Dead Boys,
New Age Steppers,
Juan Atkins,
Reuben Wilson,
Crooked Eye,
Minor Threat,
The Monochrome Set,
LL Cool J,
Todd Terry,
The Divine Comedy,
The Gladiators,
Aloha Tigers,
Bobby Hutcherson,
48th St. Collective,
Von Mondo,
T. Rex,
Boredoms,
Sun Ra,
Fugazi,
Fatback Band,
Sound Behaviour,
Organ,
In Retrospect,
Fela Kuti,
Negative Approach,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.