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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Columbus.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Jacob Miller 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 Lou Reed & John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Oppenheimer Analysis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Scratch Acid,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sexual Harrassment,
Ultravox,
Symarip,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rekid,
Joe Finger,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Gladiators,
Stereo Dub,
Masters at Work,
Slick Rick,
Yellowson,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sparks,
Intrusion,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Easy Going,
Agent Orange,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Max Romeo,
Panda Bear,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Alphaville,
Depeche Mode,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Alison Limerick,
Gang Green,
X-102,
Bill Near,
Derrick May,
Mandrill,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ultra Naté,
Lucky Dragons,
Suicide,
Icehouse,
Bronski Beat,
The Fire Engines,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gerry Rafferty,
Scrapy,
Freddie Wadling,
Joe Smooth,
The Fall,
Godley & Creme,
Schoolly D,
AZ,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Faust,
Glambeats Corp.,
Trumans Water,
Colin Newman,
Main Source,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Dead C,
Sex Pistols,
Babytalk,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.