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 Iceland and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 marimba 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 Babytalk to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 ABC. All the underground hits.
All The Red Krayola tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Foxx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Negative Approach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blues Magoos,
Youth Brigade,
The Raincoats,
Public Image Ltd.,
Tropical Tobacco,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Joe Smooth,
Mad Mike,
T. Rex,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Tomorrow,
The Golliwogs,
Idris Muhammad,
Siglo XX,
Panda Bear,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
DJ Sneak,
Los Fastidios,
Eve St. Jones,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Aloha Tigers,
T.S.O.L.,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ultimate Spinach,
Wire,
The Cure,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Little Man,
Drive Like Jehu,
Tim Buckley,
Darondo,
Babytalk,
Boz Scaggs,
Dawn Penn,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sun City Girls,
Cal Tjader,
Lou Christie,
Juan Atkins,
The Red Krayola,
Zapp,
Althea and Donna,
Easy Going,
The Litter,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jeff Mills,
Jerry's Kids,
Bobby Womack,
The Barracudas,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Mo-Dettes,
Freddie Wadling,
The Shadows of Knight,
Blake Baxter,
Echospace,
Wings,
Black Flag,
Crime,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.