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 Czech Republic and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Beijing.
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 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 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 Big Daddy Kane to the rap 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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June of 44 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
The Moleskins,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Jandek,
Brass Construction,
Lebanon Hanover,
Pagans,
Intrusion,
Eurythmics,
Liliput,
the Slits,
10cc,
Pole,
Tom Boy,
Black Sheep,
Lower 48,
Kevin Saunderson,
Camberwell Now,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Gladiators,
Clear Light,
Magma,
Pantaleimon,
The Litter,
Pylon,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Barrington Levy,
Roxy Music,
New York Dolls,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Invisible,
Lindisfarne,
The American Breed,
La Düsseldorf,
Arthur Verocai,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Susan Cadogan,
Porter Ricks,
The Fall,
Q and Not U,
The Mummies,
Rod Modell,
Negative Approach,
World's Most,
Scratch Acid,
Max Romeo,
Colin Newman,
Prince Buster,
Depeche Mode,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bobby Womack,
Funkadelic,
Skaos,
Yusef Lateef,
Second Layer,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Letta Mbulu,
The Black Dice,
Cal Tjader,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.