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 Estonia and from Delhi.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lagos.
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 organ 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 Goldenarms to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Traffic Nightmare,
Isaac Hayes,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Letta Mbulu,
World's Most,
Junior Murvin,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Blancmange,
the Bar-Kays,
The Kinks,
Derrick May,
Hasil Adkins,
Gong,
Inner City,
Adolescents,
Ossler,
Pantaleimon,
China Crisis,
Niagra,
Tres Demented,
Lucky Dragons,
MC5,
Eddi Front,
Dead Boys,
Brothers Johnson,
The Happenings,
Kenny Larkin,
Cecil Taylor,
The Misunderstood,
Toni Rubio,
Half Japanese,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Radiohead,
June Days,
T. Rex,
Minor Threat,
Scan 7,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Beasts of Bourbon,
Alice Coltrane,
The Grass Roots,
New Order,
Andrew Hill,
The Monks,
Tommy Roe,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Mad Mike,
The Birthday Party,
James White and The Blacks,
Ohio Players,
Rosa Yemen,
Prince Buster,
The Human League,
The Index,
Sound Behaviour,
The Toasters,
Lower 48,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mission of Burma,
Ultimate Spinach,
Jimmy McGriff,
Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy, Tom Boy.
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.