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 Angola and from Toronto.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the mellotron 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 AZ to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Maurizio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed,
Toni Rubio,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bad Manners,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Letta Mbulu,
Groovy Waters,
Depeche Mode,
The Count Five,
Sun Ra,
The American Breed,
Quando Quango,
Boredoms,
Boz Scaggs,
Nik Kershaw,
Magma,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Easy Going,
Panda Bear,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Music Machine,
Lungfish,
The Smoke,
The Pop Group,
Dead Boys,
James White and The Blacks,
Roxy Music,
Outsiders,
Audionom,
New Age Steppers,
Scion,
Chrome,
The Walker Brothers,
Symarip,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Grey Daturas,
Gang of Four,
Main Source,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Fall,
The Smiths,
Young Marble Giants,
The Durutti Column,
Janne Schatter,
Moby Grape,
Japan,
The Cure,
Jacob Miller,
The Knickerbockers,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Barclay James Harvest,
Hasil Adkins,
U.S. Maple,
The Associates,
Lower 48,
June Days,
Spandau Ballet,
Stiv Bators,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.