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 Jamaica 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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Mark Hollis to the electroclash 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Cymande tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moby Grape record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sandy B record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eli Mardock,
Public Enemy,
Eric Copeland,
Brothers Johnson,
Hardrive,
Jimmy McGriff,
Henry Cow,
Byron Stingily,
Roxette,
Goldenarms,
Bill Wells,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Oneida,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Erykah Badu,
Ornette Coleman,
Skarface,
Dave Gahan,
Jerry's Kids,
Barrington Levy,
Arab on Radar,
Connie Case,
Zero Boys,
Groovy Waters,
Fatback Band,
Johnny Clarke,
Das Ding,
the Sonics,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Blossom Toes,
Bobby Byrd,
Crash Course in Science,
Mission of Burma,
Los Fastidios,
OOIOO,
Throbbing Gristle,
Glenn Branca,
The New Christs,
Thee Headcoats,
Johnny Osbourne,
Steve Hackett,
Unrelated Segments,
John Cale,
Piero Umiliani,
The Gladiators,
H. Thieme,
Franke,
Basic Channel,
Anthony Braxton,
Interpol,
Stiv Bators,
the Slits,
Quando Quango,
Boredoms,
Bronski Beat,
Joe Finger,
Andrew Hill,
The Standells,
Black Bananas,
Nas,
Brand Nubian,
Aaron Thompson,
Ronnie Foster,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.