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 Togo and from Cairo.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Lalo Schifrin to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Das Ding. All the underground hits.
All Massinfluence tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DeepChord presents Echospace record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sunsets and Hearts record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Trojans,
Tropical Tobacco,
Leonard Cohen,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Nico,
Wolf Eyes,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Move,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Neil Young,
Darondo,
Pole,
Lee Hazlewood,
Fugazi,
Silicon Teens,
Ludus,
Trumans Water,
LL Cool J,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Easy Going,
Fluxion,
Pere Ubu,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Walker Brothers,
Bad Manners,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Babytalk,
John Cale,
Robert Wyatt,
Spoonie Gee,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Adolescents,
Jeff Lynne,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Hardrive,
the Sonics,
Amon Düül,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ossler,
The Pretty Things,
The Residents,
Fear,
Nation of Ulysses,
Rod Modell,
Jacques Brel,
Minny Pops,
Peter & Gordon,
Harmonia,
Altered Images,
Model 500,
Prince Buster,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Detroit Cobras,
Sixth Finger,
The Selecter,
Matthew Halsall,
Sun Ra,
the Germs, the Germs, the Germs, the Germs.
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.