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 Eritrea and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 Calgary and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 arpeggiator 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the funk 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All The Divine Comedy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
The Blackbyrds,
Spandau Ballet,
Subhumans,
Rapeman,
The Neon Judgement,
Mandrill,
Mo-Dettes,
Lalann,
Scientists,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Howard Jones,
Colin Newman,
Bill Near,
Negative Approach,
Robert Hood,
The Monks,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Von Mondo,
Dennis Brown,
Sonny Sharrock,
China Crisis,
Minnie Riperton,
U.S. Maple,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bronski Beat,
Flipper,
Wolf Eyes,
Neu!,
Pagans,
Minny Pops,
Chris & Cosey,
The Sonics,
Harmonia,
Warsaw,
Jacques Brel,
X-Ray Spex,
Unwound,
L. Decosne,
Roger Hodgson,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Marvin Gaye,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Slits,
Carl Craig,
The Beau Brummels,
Saccharine Trust,
The Shadows of Knight,
Liliput,
Sparks,
Eve St. Jones,
Ponytail,
Nirvana,
Grauzone,
Aloha Tigers,
Marshall Jefferson,
Jawbox,
JFA,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Young Marble Giants,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.