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 Finland and from Edmonton.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Soft Machine to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brick,
OOIOO,
Magma,
Das Ding,
Grey Daturas,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bang On A Can,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Yazoo,
Moebius,
Donald Byrd,
Bad Manners,
Section 25,
Severed Heads,
John Lydon,
Andrew Hill,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Johnny Osbourne,
Procol Harum,
Sonny Sharrock,
Crooked Eye,
Interpol,
Barbara Tucker,
Mr. Review,
The Buckinghams,
Japan,
Young Marble Giants,
The Smiths,
The Shadows of Knight,
Tres Demented,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Depeche Mode,
New Order,
Talk Talk,
The Saints,
Slave,
The Walker Brothers,
Pole,
Pussy Galore,
Zero Boys,
Television,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sixth Finger,
Thompson Twins,
the Normal,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dennis Brown,
Dawn Penn,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Brothers Johnson,
The Busters,
Smog,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Hardrive,
Bizarre Inc.,
Blancmange,
Tubeway Army,
Alton Ellis,
Rhythm & Sound,
Buzzcocks,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Isaac Hayes,
Lee Hazlewood,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.