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 South Sudan and from Beijing.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Holger Czukay 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 Althea and Donna to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Wake,
The Litter,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rufus Thomas,
Organ,
Echospace,
The Standells,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Nation of Ulysses,
Todd Rundgren,
Aaron Thompson,
Black Flag,
The Monks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Groovy Waters,
Amon Düül II,
The Raincoats,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nils Olav,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Derrick May,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Archie Shepp,
Moby Grape,
Desert Stars,
The Selecter,
Dark Day,
Country Teasers,
Barrington Levy,
cv313,
Yusef Lateef,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fela Kuti,
Kas Product,
Nirvana,
Average White Band,
Bizarre Inc.,
DNA,
Terrestrial Tones,
Chris & Cosey,
Neil Young,
Andrew Hill,
Los Fastidios,
Joe Finger,
Steve Hackett,
Leonard Cohen,
Derrick Morgan,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Youth Brigade,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
John Lydon,
Bobby Sherman,
Mo-Dettes,
Television Personalities,
Fear,
Rosa Yemen,
Electric Light Orchestra,
B.T. Express,
Dawn Penn,
Buzzcocks,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.