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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron 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 a-ha to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hasil Adkins 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Curtis Mayfield,
Bronski Beat,
Joy Division,
The Sound,
Eve St. Jones,
Sonic Youth,
Cybotron,
Sandy B,
10cc,
Howard Jones,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Divine Comedy,
Skaos,
New Order,
Jeff Mills,
Jeru the Damaja,
Niagra,
Echospace,
The Standells,
The Moleskins,
Vainqueur,
Supertramp,
The Busters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Doors,
Marvin Gaye,
The Remains,
Accadde A,
The Beau Brummels,
Drexciya,
Yusef Lateef,
Skarface,
Johnny Clarke,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Oneida,
JFA,
Theoretical Girls,
Crime,
Aswad,
Eric Dolphy,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Deakin,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Durutti Column,
The Victims,
Interpol,
Wolf Eyes,
Jacques Brel,
Bill Wells,
Nick Fraelich,
Brass Construction,
Kurtis Blow,
Amazonics,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
These Immortal Souls,
Pagans,
Pulsallama,
CMW, CMW, CMW, CMW.
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.