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 Nauru and from Mumbai.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Index to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Loose Ends record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MC5 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Gap Band,
Leonard Cohen,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ossler,
Porter Ricks,
Donny Hathaway,
Robert Görl,
Radio Birdman,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Make Up,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gabor Szabo,
Eric Copeland,
Depeche Mode,
The Names,
The Happenings,
June Days,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ultravox,
Steve Hackett,
CMW,
Glenn Branca,
Jacques Brel,
Suicide,
Hashim,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sight & Sound,
Liliput,
Deepchord,
David McCallum,
The Cramps,
Fluxion,
Infiniti,
The Doobie Brothers,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Frankie Knuckles,
Derrick May,
The Monks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Alison Limerick,
Los Fastidios,
Public Enemy,
Gang Green,
Gong,
Sonny Sharrock,
Stiv Bators,
Pantytec,
Terrestrial Tones,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Fania All-Stars,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Absolute Body Control,
Harry Pussy,
the Sonics,
Avey Tare,
Interpol,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.