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 Togo and from Cairo.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Standells to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dual Sessions 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Japan,
Wire,
Pylon,
The Victims,
David Bowie,
X-102,
Arab on Radar,
Sällskapet,
Soft Cell,
This Heat,
Flamin' Groovies,
Howard Jones,
John Coltrane,
Dual Sessions,
Crime,
The Pretty Things,
Soulsonic Force,
Yellowson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hashim,
ABBA,
Alison Limerick,
Skriet,
Skarface,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Offenders,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Moby Grape,
Harry Pussy,
Delta 5,
Duran Duran,
The Divine Comedy,
Bronski Beat,
the Slits,
kango's stein massive,
Kool Moe Dee,
Zapp,
Jeru the Damaja,
Albert Ayler,
Barclay James Harvest,
MC5,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Ultra Naté,
Eddi Front,
Yusef Lateef,
Dorothy Ashby,
Scientists,
Au Pairs,
PIL,
Livin' Joy,
Archie Shepp,
Roy Ayers,
The Mummies,
Gichy Dan,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Schoolly D,
Isaac Hayes,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ice-T,
T. Rex,
One Last Wish,
Wings, Wings, Wings, Wings.
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.