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 Bhutan and from Philadelphia.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Trojans to the jazz 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 Japan. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fad Gadget record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Radiohead,
Graham Central Station,
Ohio Players,
The Walker Brothers,
the Swans,
Symarip,
UT,
Deepchord,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Erasure,
Cymande,
Scratch Acid,
The Skatalites,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Flamin' Groovies,
Althea and Donna,
Matthew Bourne,
Bob Dylan,
8 Eyed Spy,
Tears for Fears,
Liliput,
Swell Maps,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Barracudas,
a-ha,
Sister Nancy,
The Gap Band,
Echospace,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sound Behaviour,
Metal Thangz,
Skarface,
Siglo XX,
Lou Christie,
Make Up,
Lungfish,
Chris & Cosey,
The Real Kids,
Faraquet,
The Moody Blues,
Black Moon,
Dark Day,
Sam Rivers,
John Coltrane,
Minutemen,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gastr Del Sol,
Joe Smooth,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Danielle Patucci,
Suburban Knight,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soft Machine,
Talk Talk,
Jawbox,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Masters at Work,
The Residents,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.