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 Togo and from Milan.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 These Immortal Souls to the grunge 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 Livin' Joy. All the underground hits.
All Scientists tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deakin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soulsonic Force,
Avey Tare,
Kas Product,
Aloha Tigers,
June Days,
Johnny Osbourne,
Livin' Joy,
Simply Red,
E-Dancer,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Drexciya,
Scrapy,
Arcadia,
Gong,
Pierre Henry,
Radio Birdman,
Oneida,
UT,
Vladislav Delay,
Pole,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Public Enemy,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Music Machine,
Marshall Jefferson,
Robert Wyatt,
Inner City,
Man Parrish,
ABBA,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Drive Like Jehu,
Grauzone,
Chrome,
Suburban Knight,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eric B and Rakim,
the Soft Cell,
Don Cherry,
The Moleskins,
Ludus,
Anthony Braxton,
Monolake,
Oblivians,
James White and The Blacks,
The Stooges,
Ten City,
Interpol,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Peter & Gordon,
The Durutti Column,
Eve St. Jones,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Doors,
The Gladiators,
Aural Exciters,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Echospace,
Aswad,
Marc Almond,
the Bar-Kays,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.