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 Mali 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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 güiro 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sister Nancy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Robert Hood,
Soft Machine,
The Kinks,
Flash Fearless,
Dorothy Ashby,
Little Man,
New York Dolls,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Magma,
Con Funk Shun,
Silicon Teens,
The Gories,
The Victims,
Eric Dolphy,
Bobby Byrd,
Dual Sessions,
Sällskapet,
Joey Negro,
the Fania All-Stars,
Country Teasers,
Animal Collective,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Motorama,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Smoke,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Dirtbombs,
The Zeros,
Robert Wyatt,
The Velvet Underground,
Don Cherry,
Bobby Sherman,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Audionom,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Eric Copeland,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Judy Mowatt,
The Young Rascals,
LL Cool J,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Minnie Riperton,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lou Reed,
Dennis Brown,
The American Breed,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Public Image Ltd.,
the Normal,
Marc Almond,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Gong,
Average White Band,
Ituana,
Patti Smith,
Letta Mbulu,
The Cure,
Kerrie Biddell,
Stockholm Monsters,
Throbbing Gristle,
Brand Nubian,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex.
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.