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 Denmark and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Selecter,
Surgeon,
Stiv Bators,
The Dave Clark Five,
Symarip,
The Neon Judgement,
Quantec,
Swans,
Jerry's Kids,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Rufus Thomas,
The Fuzztones,
June Days,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Nils Olav,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Royal Trux,
The Pop Group,
Aloha Tigers,
Public Image Ltd.,
Kerri Chandler,
Scion,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Trumans Water,
Black Bananas,
Marine Girls,
Sound Behaviour,
Dark Day,
The Cure,
Negative Approach,
Blancmange,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cameo,
Brass Construction,
Slick Rick,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ultravox,
The Electric Prunes,
U.S. Maple,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Max Romeo,
Ten City,
Pole,
Leonard Cohen,
Roxette,
Radio Birdman,
Aaron Thompson,
Steve Hackett,
Avey Tare,
Jeff Lynne,
Subhumans,
Marshall Jefferson,
Sällskapet,
The Mighty Diamonds,
David McCallum,
Crooked Eye,
Goldenarms,
Eve St. Jones,
The Names,
Television,
Au Pairs,
The Young Rascals,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.