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 Liberia and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Model 500 to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shoche record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Soul Sonic Force,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sixth Finger,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Junior Murvin,
Absolute Body Control,
Colin Newman,
Harpers Bizarre,
Amon Düül,
The Young Rascals,
Quando Quango,
The Seeds,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gichy Dan,
H. Thieme,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Television Personalities,
Pere Ubu,
The Standells,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Basic Channel,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Danielle Patucci,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lalann,
Charles Mingus,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mary Jane Girls,
Royal Trux,
Shuggie Otis,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Avey Tare,
Minnie Riperton,
PIL,
L. Decosne,
Q65,
The Cure,
Ultravox,
David McCallum,
Rhythm & Sound,
Altered Images,
Supertramp,
Barclay James Harvest,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Scott Walker,
Grey Daturas,
The American Breed,
The Electric Prunes,
The Count Five,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Busters,
Erasure,
Kevin Saunderson,
ABBA,
Parry Music,
The Knickerbockers,
Sparks, Sparks, Sparks, Sparks.
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.