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 Indonesia and from Seoul.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Dave Gahan to the crunk 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 Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Outsiders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Davy DMX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Ponytail,
Deadbeat,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Techniques,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Hardrive,
Blancmange,
John Cale,
Letta Mbulu,
Absolute Body Control,
Crash Course in Science,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ultra Naté,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Birthday Party,
Girls At Our Best!,
Alphaville,
The Barracudas,
Vainqueur,
New Order,
B.T. Express,
Marvin Gaye,
Urselle,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Eurythmics,
Liliput,
Excepter,
Slave,
Joe Smooth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Laurel Aitken,
Rites of Spring,
UT,
Bad Manners,
Technova,
Brand Nubian,
The Slackers,
Flipper,
Monolake,
The Velvet Underground,
OOIOO,
Sex Pistols,
Kaleidoscope,
Derrick May,
The Cramps,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Aural Exciters,
The Count Five,
The Selecter,
China Crisis,
Desert Stars,
Yaz,
The Electric Prunes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Tim Buckley,
Bang On A Can,
Mark Hollis,
Goldenarms,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sight & Sound,
Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic.
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.