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 Bhutan and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Tomorrow 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 Jeru the Damaja. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Popol Vuh record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Peter & Gordon,
Interpol,
Susan Cadogan,
the Swans,
CMW,
Parry Music,
James White and The Blacks,
Thompson Twins,
The Pretty Things,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Shoche,
Marshall Jefferson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
10cc,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Cure,
Camouflage,
Y Pants,
Todd Rundgren,
Scratch Acid,
Joy Division,
Flipper,
Glambeats Corp.,
Brass Construction,
Laurel Aitken,
Minny Pops,
Index,
Lucky Dragons,
Dennis Brown,
Jandek,
Country Teasers,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Invisible,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gichy Dan,
The Happenings,
Siglo XX,
Urselle,
Johnny Osbourne,
Graham Central Station,
the Human League,
Boz Scaggs,
Wire,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mantronix,
Peter and Kerry,
The Birthday Party,
Roger Hodgson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Junior Murvin,
Dead Boys,
Duran Duran,
Donald Byrd,
China Crisis,
Outsiders,
Lee Hazlewood,
John Coltrane,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.