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 Solomon Islands and from Mexico City.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Jacob Miller to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Doors. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cal Tjader record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
Lucky Dragons,
Quantec,
The Seeds,
Glenn Branca,
The Kinks,
Lou Christie,
Dead Boys,
Ronnie Foster,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Livin' Joy,
Swell Maps,
Babytalk,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Yusef Lateef,
Drexciya,
Yazoo,
Absolute Body Control,
K-Klass,
Ten City,
Spoonie Gee,
Big Daddy Kane,
Alton Ellis,
Moss Icon,
Girls At Our Best!,
Rekid,
Sällskapet,
Fatback Band,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kevin Saunderson,
John Holt,
FM Einheit,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Talk Talk,
Moby Grape,
The Techniques,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Massinfluence,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Intrusion,
Matthew Halsall,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Sound,
Laurel Aitken,
The Offenders,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Mummies,
JFA,
The Motions,
Reagan Youth,
The Blues Magoos,
L. Decosne,
Symarip,
A Certain Ratio,
Erasure,
Yaz,
Das Ding,
The Cure,
Agent Orange,
Cluster,
Barry Ungar,
Todd Terry,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.