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 Belize and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Johnny Clarke to the grunge 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 Gerry Rafferty. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radio Birdman 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Seeds,
Skarface,
Public Image Ltd.,
James White and The Blacks,
Wolf Eyes,
The Fortunes,
The Selecter,
Sister Nancy,
Ituana,
Gang Gang Dance,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Zero Boys,
Severed Heads,
Peter and Kerry,
Supertramp,
Electric Prunes,
OOIOO,
a-ha,
Cybotron,
Popol Vuh,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sixth Finger,
The Moleskins,
Tres Demented,
The Slackers,
D'Angelo,
The Toasters,
Dead Boys,
Amon Düül,
Dorothy Ashby,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Can,
Nik Kershaw,
The United States of America,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Godley & Creme,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pylon,
Harpers Bizarre,
Chris & Cosey,
Marc Almond,
Scott Walker,
The Blues Magoos,
The Kinks,
The Martian,
Skriet,
Peter & Gordon,
Dual Sessions,
Avey Tare,
Anakelly,
This Heat,
The Blackbyrds,
Connie Case,
Pulsallama,
Dark Day,
The Beau Brummels,
Dave Gahan,
The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas.
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.