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 Tajikistan and from Milan.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Unrelated Segments to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All The Moody Blues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DeepChord presents Echospace 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minnie Riperton,
Camouflage,
Country Teasers,
The Birthday Party,
Colin Newman,
This Heat,
Outsiders,
Roy Ayers,
Essential Logic,
Arcadia,
Qualms,
Alison Limerick,
John Holt,
Average White Band,
Newcleus,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bobby Womack,
Echospace,
Arab on Radar,
Mo-Dettes,
Oblivians,
The Blackbyrds,
Skarface,
Ludus,
B.T. Express,
Trumans Water,
Susan Cadogan,
Eurythmics,
The Dirtbombs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Wolf Eyes,
U.S. Maple,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bush Tetras,
K-Klass,
The J.B.'s,
The Count Five,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ralphi Rosario,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Subhumans,
David Axelrod,
Robert Hood,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sugar Minott,
Little Man,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Slackers,
Pantaleimon,
Janne Schatter,
Theoretical Girls,
Alton Ellis,
Unwound,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mark Hollis,
Harry Pussy,
Schoolly D,
Donald Byrd,
The Misunderstood,
X-101,
Boz Scaggs,
Nas, Nas, Nas, Nas.
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.