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 Sierra Leone and from Lagos.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Soulsonic Force to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sight & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
Thompson Twins,
The Misunderstood,
Marine Girls,
Ronan,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sällskapet,
Make Up,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
David Bowie,
June of 44,
The Real Kids,
Pere Ubu,
Spandau Ballet,
The Searchers,
Peter & Gordon,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
James White and The Blacks,
Bill Wells,
Pulsallama,
Gang Gang Dance,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
John Holt,
Robert Görl,
Anthony Braxton,
Reagan Youth,
Underground Resistance,
Nik Kershaw,
Faraquet,
10cc,
a-ha,
Scrapy,
R.M.O.,
Jeff Lynne,
Ultravox,
Sun Ra,
Rufus Thomas,
Black Moon,
Faust,
Half Japanese,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Mojo Men,
Althea and Donna,
The Cure,
8 Eyed Spy,
Crime,
Jawbox,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Dead C,
Susan Cadogan,
Blancmange,
Joy Division,
F. McDonald,
Soulsonic Force,
Nas,
John Cale,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.