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 Zimbabwe and from New York.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Altered Images to the grunge 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 New Christs. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Martian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 organ and a marimba 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 theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
Spoonie Gee,
The Human League,
Dark Day,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Evens,
Dead Boys,
Sister Nancy,
Derrick May,
Quadrant,
kango's stein massive,
Thompson Twins,
ABBA,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Black Flag,
Crispy Ambulance,
Livin' Joy,
Pantytec,
John Lydon,
Tubeway Army,
Peter and Kerry,
Pierre Henry,
Freddie Wadling,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lucky Dragons,
Oneida,
One Last Wish,
Little Man,
Peter & Gordon,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Brick,
Steve Hackett,
Babytalk,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Aural Exciters,
Lightning Bolt,
Sam Rivers,
Matthew Bourne,
L. Decosne,
Pagans,
Delta 5,
Lungfish,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Television Personalities,
The Monochrome Set,
James White and The Blacks,
Robert Wyatt,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Joensuu 1685,
Sugar Minott,
The Move,
June of 44,
Inner City,
The Litter,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Barrington Levy,
Moby Grape,
Scrapy,
Tropical Tobacco,
Byron Stingily,
The Index,
Groovy Waters,
Warsaw,
Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker.
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.