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 South Africa and from Jakarta.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator 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 Radio Birdman to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Intrusion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kurtis Blow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonny Sharrock,
Sandy B,
Jandek,
The Slackers,
Peter & Gordon,
Motorama,
Crooked Eye,
Easy Going,
Barry Ungar,
The Cowsills,
Judy Mowatt,
Jesper Dahlback,
Glenn Branca,
Babytalk,
Joyce Sims,
Roxy Music,
Amon Düül II,
Gabor Szabo,
Arab on Radar,
Joe Smooth,
Audionom,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Toni Rubio,
The Gun Club,
Juan Atkins,
The Mojo Men,
Heaven 17,
Organ,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Move,
Tommy Roe,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ten City,
Japan,
The Fall,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ronan,
Joe Finger,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ken Boothe,
Scan 7,
Amon Düül,
Pharoah Sanders,
OOIOO,
Soft Machine,
Radiohead,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Vogues,
Unwound,
Angry Samoans,
Jimmy McGriff,
Aaron Thompson,
Mad Mike,
Banda Bassotti,
Warsaw,
Eurythmics,
Throbbing Gristle,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Dead Boys,
Max Romeo,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.