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 South Sudan and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Soul II Soul to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
DNA,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Y Pants,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Livin' Joy,
Half Japanese,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
X-Ray Spex,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Gichy Dan,
Carl Craig,
Idris Muhammad,
Nirvana,
Gang of Four,
Matthew Bourne,
Reuben Wilson,
the Normal,
Dual Sessions,
Camberwell Now,
The Motions,
Albert Ayler,
Ohio Players,
Aloha Tigers,
Iggy Pop,
Todd Rundgren,
Brand Nubian,
Japan,
Eddi Front,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Eric Copeland,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bluetip,
Rakim,
a-ha,
Franke,
Patti Smith,
The Cure,
Bauhaus,
Funky Four + One,
Chris Corsano,
The Monochrome Set,
Yellowson,
Black Pus,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Nils Olav,
Toni Rubio,
The Techniques,
Drive Like Jehu,
John Holt,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Bar-Kays,
The Mummies,
the Soft Cell,
Urselle,
Q65,
Agitation Free,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras, The Detroit Cobras.
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.