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 Lesotho and from Sao Paulo.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 John Holt to the crunk 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 Association. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nation of Ulysses,
Cal Tjader,
Bob Dylan,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Tropical Tobacco,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Slits,
Television,
Black Flag,
Erasure,
Al Stewart,
Blancmange,
Bobby Womack,
Moby Grape,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Main Source,
Judy Mowatt,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Alice Coltrane,
Bluetip,
Byron Stingily,
The Seeds,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gichy Dan,
Nick Fraelich,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Funkadelic,
Kool Moe Dee,
Flipper,
Mr. Review,
Dark Day,
Ituana,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Vogues,
The Five Americans,
Nik Kershaw,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fugazi,
Adolescents,
Peter & Gordon,
Cameo,
Junior Murvin,
Cecil Taylor,
Spandau Ballet,
The Tremeloes,
Sight & Sound,
Zero Boys,
The Stooges,
Q and Not U,
The Misunderstood,
Freddie Wadling,
Alison Limerick,
OOIOO,
The Invisible,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Zeros,
Fifty Foot Hose,
K-Klass,
Deakin,
Jacques Brel,
The Leaves,
Altered Images,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.