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 Cape Verde and from London.
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 Halifax and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Skriet to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All The Victims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Cell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June Days,
Sixth Finger,
Bobby Sherman,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pere Ubu,
Fatback Band,
Goldenarms,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sonic Youth,
Colin Newman,
LL Cool J,
Pet Shop Boys,
Donald Byrd,
Brothers Johnson,
MC5,
Howard Jones,
8 Eyed Spy,
Stetsasonic,
Freddie Wadling,
Surgeon,
Black Sheep,
The Invisible,
The Alarm Clocks,
Charles Mingus,
DNA,
Barrington Levy,
Skarface,
Jimmy McGriff,
James Chance & The Contortions,
E-Dancer,
Malaria!,
Crooked Eye,
Lucky Dragons,
Wings,
Lakeside,
Max Romeo,
Procol Harum,
Minny Pops,
Radiopuhelimet,
Kerri Chandler,
Von Mondo,
Icehouse,
Sparks,
Section 25,
Scott Walker,
The Beau Brummels,
Rhythm & Sound,
Tubeway Army,
The Human League,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lower 48,
Technova,
John Lydon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Wake,
Pagans,
Stockholm Monsters,
Arcadia,
Funkadelic,
Eden Ahbez,
Gil Scott Heron,
Zapp,
The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s.
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.