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 Oman and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Blackbyrds to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All The Knickerbockers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rapeman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Circle Jerks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
Can,
Archie Shepp,
Urselle,
Graham Central Station,
Lightning Bolt,
Jandek,
Roy Ayers,
Bill Wells,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Pop Group,
Bobby Womack,
Y Pants,
The Flesh Eaters,
Make Up,
The Velvet Underground,
John Cale,
Symarip,
Hashim,
John Holt,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Zapp,
Smog,
Prince Buster,
the Human League,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Wire,
Tubeway Army,
Oblivians,
Tommy Roe,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Carl Craig,
Kerri Chandler,
Charles Mingus,
Wally Richardson,
the Association,
Roxy Music,
Arcadia,
The Stooges,
Suicide,
The Monks,
Barclay James Harvest,
Camouflage,
Eden Ahbez,
Chrome,
Absolute Body Control,
The Music Machine,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tres Demented,
Little Man,
Circle Jerks,
Peter and Kerry,
The Tremeloes,
Eric Copeland,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Skriet,
Avey Tare,
Kool Moe Dee,
Aaron Thompson,
Ossler,
Amon Düül,
Thee Headcoats,
Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour, Sound Behaviour.
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.