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 Comoros and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the theremin 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 The Tremeloes to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lalann. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kango’s Stein Massive 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blues Magoos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
The Last Poets,
Radio Birdman,
Quando Quango,
Groovy Waters,
The Golliwogs,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cluster,
Nico,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Desert Stars,
James White and The Blacks,
Mantronix,
Young Marble Giants,
Bobby Byrd,
Public Enemy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Das Ding,
Soft Cell,
Magazine,
Michelle Simonal,
Rosa Yemen,
Gabor Szabo,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lightning Bolt,
Index,
CMW,
New Age Steppers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Boz Scaggs,
Skarface,
Kerri Chandler,
Brick,
X-101,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Angels of Light,
Susan Cadogan,
Ronnie Foster,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Gun Club,
The Star Department,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grandmaster Flash,
Quantec,
The Associates,
Dennis Brown,
Duran Duran,
Anakelly,
Laurel Aitken,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Monochrome Set,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Black Dice,
The Raincoats,
B.T. Express,
Flamin' Groovies,
Alison Limerick,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
PIL,
The Tremeloes,
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.