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 Lebanon and from Shanghai.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Fire Engines to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The New Christs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
In Retrospect,
The Dead C,
Rhythm & Sound,
Slave,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Mojo Men,
The Evens,
Amazonics,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
T.S.O.L.,
The Fuzztones,
U.S. Maple,
Rufus Thomas,
Unrelated Segments,
Judy Mowatt,
The Mummies,
Basic Channel,
Lyres,
Gang Green,
Bill Near,
Dave Gahan,
Ultravox,
Siglo XX,
a-ha,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Pylon,
Country Joe & The Fish,
K-Klass,
The Music Machine,
Silicon Teens,
Letta Mbulu,
Deadbeat,
Danielle Patucci,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Unwound,
Leonard Cohen,
Intrusion,
Stereo Dub,
Thompson Twins,
Radiohead,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bauhaus,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Johnny Clarke,
Wasted Youth,
Byron Stingily,
Glenn Branca,
Electric Prunes,
Lakeside,
Young Marble Giants,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Fatback Band,
Severed Heads,
The Raincoats,
Bronski Beat,
Josef K,
New York Dolls,
Audionom,
Masters at Work,
The Monochrome Set,
Sugar Minott,
Average White Band,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.