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 Cape Verde and from Mumbai.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Shadows of Knight to the techno 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 The Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Ponytail tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Johnny Osbourne,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sparks,
E-Dancer,
Depeche Mode,
Tommy Roe,
R.M.O.,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lee Hazlewood,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Negative Approach,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gastr Del Sol,
Skriet,
Bush Tetras,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Monks,
The Angels of Light,
Scott Walker,
Main Source,
48th St. Collective,
Liliput,
Average White Band,
Ohio Players,
The Sound,
Wire,
Ronan,
PIL,
Sarah Menescal,
Youth Brigade,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Dorothy Ashby,
Piero Umiliani,
Fat Boys,
Barclay James Harvest,
Guru Guru,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Crispy Ambulance,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kayak,
Roxette,
Aural Exciters,
The Sonics,
The Toasters,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Danielle Patucci,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jesper Dahlback,
Aloha Tigers,
One Last Wish,
China Crisis,
Pulsallama,
The Skatalites,
Section 25,
10cc,
Bobby Womack,
UT,
Pagans,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.