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 Cameroon and from Paris.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Sly & The Family Stone to the dance 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 The Cure. All the underground hits.
All Arab on Radar tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pretty Things 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb 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 clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
the Soft Cell,
Fugazi,
Howard Jones,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Spoonie Gee,
Albert Ayler,
Steve Hackett,
Bad Manners,
Minutemen,
Cal Tjader,
Curtis Mayfield,
Half Japanese,
Tommy Roe,
DJ Style,
China Crisis,
Lucky Dragons,
Rapeman,
AZ,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Harmonia,
Nirvana,
Au Pairs,
Lakeside,
The Skatalites,
Reuben Wilson,
Dawn Penn,
Todd Terry,
Alison Limerick,
Sexual Harrassment,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Von Mondo,
Gil Scott Heron,
Peter & Gordon,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pantytec,
The Litter,
Harpers Bizarre,
Amazonics,
Kerri Chandler,
Anakelly,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Chris & Cosey,
Davy DMX,
Minnie Riperton,
Jerry's Kids,
Frankie Knuckles,
X-102,
Barrington Levy,
Agitation Free,
Black Pus,
The Golliwogs,
The Smiths,
John Holt,
Yusef Lateef,
Pere Ubu,
Eric B and Rakim,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Juan Atkins,
The Pretty Things,
Johnny Clarke,
Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes.
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.