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 Barbados and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe 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 Anthony Braxton to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Real Kids. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wally Richardson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nirvana,
Eric Copeland,
The Velvet Underground,
Skarface,
Bang On A Can,
Q65,
Lakeside,
Warsaw,
Nils Olav,
Matthew Halsall,
Essential Logic,
The Black Dice,
Absolute Body Control,
The Shadows of Knight,
Josef K,
Faust,
Joyce Sims,
Cecil Taylor,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Litter,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
JFA,
Iggy Pop,
Delta 5,
The Kinks,
Susan Cadogan,
Mars,
CMW,
Los Fastidios,
Clear Light,
Joe Smooth,
Freddie Wadling,
Joey Negro,
Kayak,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rekid,
MDC,
Minor Threat,
Morten Harket,
Dawn Penn,
The Tremeloes,
Kurtis Blow,
The Divine Comedy,
Nick Fraelich,
Skaos,
The Cure,
Desert Stars,
The Slackers,
The Durutti Column,
Deadbeat,
Ronnie Foster,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Reagan Youth,
the Normal,
Johnny Clarke,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Black Sheep,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
June Days,
Accadde A,
The Stooges,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.