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 Sri Lanka and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sam Rivers to the jazz 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 DJ Sneak. All the underground hits.
All Moss Icon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ten City,
E-Dancer,
Scan 7,
Smog,
Yaz,
Audionom,
Crash Course in Science,
Symarip,
Johnny Osbourne,
Visage,
The Walker Brothers,
Basic Channel,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
the Fania All-Stars,
Oblivians,
Aloha Tigers,
Eurythmics,
Kerri Chandler,
John Lydon,
John Foxx,
PIL,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Black Sheep,
the Slits,
Lyres,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Minor Threat,
Surgeon,
The Dirtbombs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Divine Comedy,
The Names,
Scientists,
The Smiths,
Can,
Roy Ayers,
Soulsonic Force,
Deakin,
Andrew Hill,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Jeff Lynne,
David McCallum,
Black Moon,
Silicon Teens,
The Black Dice,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
La Düsseldorf,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rakim,
Nik Kershaw,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Patti Smith,
Swell Maps,
Cal Tjader,
Kayak,
The Motions,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.