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 Tehran.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 X-102 to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gap Band. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vaughan Mason & Crew record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Johnny Osbourne,
Khruangbin,
Icehouse,
The Smiths,
John Cale,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Doobie Brothers,
Banda Bassotti,
The Index,
Ten City,
Danielle Patucci,
Skarface,
Aloha Tigers,
Amazonics,
Amon Düül II,
Cecil Taylor,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jerry's Kids,
Michelle Simonal,
Scientists,
Crime,
Susan Cadogan,
Steve Hackett,
Infiniti,
Pharoah Sanders,
Scott Walker,
The Last Poets,
Idris Muhammad,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Saccharine Trust,
Todd Terry,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Matthew Bourne,
Crispy Ambulance,
Al Stewart,
The Music Machine,
Sugar Minott,
The Vogues,
Guru Guru,
Trumans Water,
Lucky Dragons,
X-102,
DJ Sneak,
Nico,
The Angels of Light,
Black Moon,
Joyce Sims,
The Real Kids,
Henry Cow,
the Human League,
The New Christs,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Laurel Aitken,
Brothers Johnson,
Chris Corsano,
The Birthday Party,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.