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 Serbia and from Stockholm.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 Robert Palmer 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 Fugazi to the grime 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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
The Grass Roots,
Tom Boy,
The Angels of Light,
The Fire Engines,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Marcia Griffiths,
Alice Coltrane,
Severed Heads,
Tomorrow,
Soul Sonic Force,
Charles Mingus,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Wake,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
48th St. Collective,
Scrapy,
Jawbox,
Rod Modell,
8 Eyed Spy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Loose Ends,
These Immortal Souls,
Marmalade,
Q and Not U,
Lalann,
E-Dancer,
Don Cherry,
Avey Tare,
Deakin,
The Dead C,
Eve St. Jones,
Surgeon,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Depeche Mode,
ABBA,
Rotary Connection,
Smog,
Hashim,
Donny Hathaway,
Ohio Players,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Public Enemy,
K-Klass,
The Tremeloes,
Carl Craig,
Joensuu 1685,
Con Funk Shun,
The Victims,
Black Sheep,
The Blackbyrds,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Anakelly,
Idris Muhammad,
Anthony Braxton,
Wire,
Harpers Bizarre,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ronan, Ronan, Ronan, Ronan.
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.