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 Samoa and from Salvador.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Derrick May to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rites of Spring record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Make Up,
Gregory Isaacs,
Yazoo,
Donny Hathaway,
Crispy Ambulance,
Rod Modell,
Urselle,
Quantec,
China Crisis,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ornette Coleman,
Wire,
Gang Starr,
The Names,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Big Daddy Kane,
La Düsseldorf,
Gerry Rafferty,
AZ,
The Doobie Brothers,
Donald Byrd,
Lightning Bolt,
Joy Division,
The Durutti Column,
Joey Negro,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Henry Cow,
Q65,
Nik Kershaw,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
kango's stein massive,
Mantronix,
Dorothy Ashby,
Organ,
The Associates,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Slick Rick,
Interpol,
Deadbeat,
Alphaville,
Stockholm Monsters,
Aural Exciters,
These Immortal Souls,
Youth Brigade,
David McCallum,
The Mummies,
The Saints,
The Wake,
Duran Duran,
Derrick Morgan,
DJ Style,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Thee Headcoats,
Model 500,
The Pretty Things,
Slave,
MDC,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
the Association,
Adolescents,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.