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 Benin 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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Minny Pops to the grime 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 Gastr Del Sol. All the underground hits.
All Soul Sonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sound Behaviour record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tubeway Army,
Connie Case,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Pulsallama,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lindisfarne,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Associates,
The Cure,
Slick Rick,
The Beau Brummels,
Kool Moe Dee,
Los Fastidios,
Mantronix,
Faraquet,
Iggy Pop,
The Raincoats,
Lakeside,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Tomorrow,
The Martian,
The Saints,
Organ,
Nico,
Cheater Slicks,
Qualms,
Angry Samoans,
Girls At Our Best!,
Maleditus Sound,
Eve St. Jones,
Soul II Soul,
Alphaville,
Deakin,
Barry Ungar,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Charles Mingus,
Eli Mardock,
Gong,
Aloha Tigers,
Mr. Review,
Fela Kuti,
Piero Umiliani,
Underground Resistance,
Black Flag,
Maurizio,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Todd Rundgren,
The Monochrome Set,
Bobby Byrd,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dawn Penn,
Sam Rivers,
Bad Manners,
Bang On A Can,
Faust,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.