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 Belize and from Copenhagen.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
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 Average White Band to the grime 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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erasure 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Evens,
Man Parrish,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Cure,
Sight & Sound,
Young Marble Giants,
Bobbi Humphrey,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Easy Going,
Kerrie Biddell,
MDC,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Marvin Gaye,
the Association,
Sister Nancy,
Shoche,
Eurythmics,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Johnny Clarke,
The Velvet Underground,
Whodini,
LL Cool J,
Marine Girls,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Chris & Cosey,
Anthony Braxton,
Amon Düül II,
Kevin Saunderson,
Dark Day,
The Kinks,
Absolute Body Control,
Scientists,
Stockholm Monsters,
Amon Düül,
Colin Newman,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Fortunes,
Babytalk,
The Sonics,
Idris Muhammad,
the Swans,
Motorama,
Sonny Sharrock,
Robert Hood,
The Standells,
Connie Case,
Lightning Bolt,
AZ,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ultravox,
The Misunderstood,
Au Pairs,
The Doors,
Niagra,
Marmalade,
Sexual Harrassment,
Suicide,
Henry Cow,
Ten City,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.