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 Zambia and from Paris.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet 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 MDC to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Morten Harket tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tom Boy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
The Kinks,
Wally Richardson,
Ornette Coleman,
The Beau Brummels,
Radiohead,
The Real Kids,
Alison Limerick,
The Gun Club,
The Moleskins,
Crooked Eye,
Negative Approach,
The Evens,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Matthew Halsall,
Kayak,
E-Dancer,
The Dead C,
Monks,
Popol Vuh,
The Moody Blues,
Lyres,
Sällskapet,
The Slackers,
The Velvet Underground,
Reagan Youth,
Inner City,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Dawn Penn,
Lou Reed,
These Immortal Souls,
Hot Snakes,
Silicon Teens,
The J.B.'s,
Nas,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Idris Muhammad,
Bob Dylan,
Boogie Down Productions,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
10cc,
Morten Harket,
8 Eyed Spy,
Thompson Twins,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Angels of Light,
Rosa Yemen,
The Buckinghams,
Gong,
Brick,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Simply Red,
Clear Light,
Mantronix,
Technova,
Massinfluence,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Dirtbombs,
In Retrospect,
The Stooges,
Davy DMX,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.