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 Tunisia and from Philadelphia.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Q and Not U 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 Marc Almond. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun City Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Skaos,
Schoolly D,
Television,
Funkadelic,
The Seeds,
Morten Harket,
Pagans,
Half Japanese,
Ralphi Rosario,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kas Product,
Index,
Jeff Lynne,
Wolf Eyes,
The Leaves,
Clear Light,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Basic Channel,
Donald Byrd,
Black Bananas,
MDC,
Charles Mingus,
Franke,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Con Funk Shun,
The Shadows of Knight,
Country Teasers,
Masters at Work,
Porter Ricks,
Ludus,
Crime,
Lou Christie,
Make Up,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Goldenarms,
Carl Craig,
Technova,
Steve Hackett,
Minor Threat,
The Barracudas,
The Fugs,
Brothers Johnson,
Siglo XX,
The Associates,
Letta Mbulu,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Interpol,
The Dave Clark Five,
Faust,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ohio Players,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Robert Görl,
Smog,
Tim Buckley,
Radiohead,
Sun City Girls,
Hasil Adkins,
Danielle Patucci,
Cheater Slicks,
The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues.
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.