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 China 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lyon.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Tommy Roe to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Buzzcocks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minny Pops 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marmalade,
Infiniti,
The Slits,
Michelle Simonal,
Reuben Wilson,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bush Tetras,
Parry Music,
Fluxion,
Spoonie Gee,
Robert Wyatt,
New York Dolls,
Ludus,
Flash Fearless,
Tim Buckley,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Fortunes,
Dark Day,
Johnny Clarke,
JFA,
Radiohead,
Faust,
Camberwell Now,
Janne Schatter,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Loose Ends,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Mad Mike,
Sister Nancy,
The Leaves,
Radio Birdman,
X-101,
The Victims,
The New Christs,
Talk Talk,
Dave Gahan,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Interpol,
Derrick Morgan,
David McCallum,
Peter & Gordon,
48th St. Collective,
The Last Poets,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Freddie Wadling,
Cymande,
June of 44,
Hoover,
The Happenings,
Monks,
Suburban Knight,
Grauzone,
The Stooges,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Modern Lovers,
Maleditus Sound,
Bad Manners,
Pylon,
Ituana,
Boredoms,
Rekid,
Charles Mingus,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.