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 East Timor 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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Taipei.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Silicon Teens,
Blancmange,
Fela Kuti,
Rapeman,
Drive Like Jehu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Mark Hollis,
The Cure,
Bill Wells,
Chris Corsano,
Deadbeat,
Kaleidoscope,
Lakeside,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ohio Players,
Ice-T,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jeff Mills,
Liliput,
the Slits,
The Selecter,
Gang of Four,
Oblivians,
The Sound,
Skaos,
Janne Schatter,
Ultravox,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bobby Womack,
The Fugs,
Rotary Connection,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pulsallama,
Skriet,
Crash Course in Science,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eric B and Rakim,
Das Ding,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Anthony Braxton,
The Leaves,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Carl Craig,
La Düsseldorf,
Stockholm Monsters,
Piero Umiliani,
Maleditus Sound,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
H. Thieme,
Man Eating Sloth,
A Certain Ratio,
Excepter,
Cybotron,
E-Dancer,
Crooked Eye,
Jeff Lynne,
Joey Negro,
Porter Ricks,
Japan,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.