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 Bangladesh and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 La Düsseldorf to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All Kango’s Stein Massive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sex Pistols record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Marine Girls,
Yusef Lateef,
Fat Boys,
The Alarm Clocks,
Barbara Tucker,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Gun Club,
Pantytec,
Danielle Patucci,
Howard Jones,
Shuggie Otis,
Connie Case,
Soft Cell,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ossler,
Dawn Penn,
Aswad,
Heaven 17,
Robert Wyatt,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sound Behaviour,
Audionom,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rufus Thomas,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Martian,
Slave,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Nirvana,
The Toasters,
Amazonics,
Blake Baxter,
Peter & Gordon,
Kenny Larkin,
The Invisible,
Tubeway Army,
Robert Görl,
Mandrill,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Chrome,
Michelle Simonal,
Severed Heads,
Cluster,
Crispy Ambulance,
Camouflage,
The Litter,
Dead Boys,
Whodini,
Massinfluence,
Circle Jerks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Human League,
Newcleus,
One Last Wish,
The Black Dice,
Prince Buster,
Oblivians,
Skarface,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.