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 Kenya and from Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Tim Buckley to the techno 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 Bobby Womack. All the underground hits.
All Leonard Cohen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Red Krayola record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ornette Coleman,
The Beau Brummels,
The Dave Clark Five,
Derrick May,
Lucky Dragons,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Peter & Gordon,
Saccharine Trust,
Intrusion,
The Buckinghams,
The Human League,
Glenn Branca,
Nirvana,
Bang On A Can,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Wolf Eyes,
Quantec,
Scott Walker,
Moss Icon,
Idris Muhammad,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Durutti Column,
FM Einheit,
Yellowson,
Freddie Wadling,
The Last Poets,
Arthur Verocai,
Camouflage,
Iggy Pop,
The Dirtbombs,
Masters at Work,
Althea and Donna,
Big Daddy Kane,
Man Parrish,
Minnie Riperton,
Bobby Byrd,
Drexciya,
Eddi Front,
Ten City,
Sister Nancy,
CMW,
Brand Nubian,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Thompson Twins,
Slick Rick,
Zero Boys,
Ponytail,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Bobby Sherman,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rapeman,
Aswad,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Cameo,
The Pop Group,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Howard Jones,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Toni Rubio,
Skaos,
Metal Thangz,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.