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 Qatar and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Johannesburg.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Eli Mardock to the grime 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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Andrew Hill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Throbbing Gristle record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q and Not U,
the Soft Cell,
Warsaw,
Skaos,
The Standells,
Negative Approach,
B.T. Express,
Bill Wells,
Bronski Beat,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
JFA,
Delta 5,
Mary Jane Girls,
Can,
Rites of Spring,
Agent Orange,
Yazoo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dawn Penn,
John Coltrane,
Bad Manners,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Grauzone,
The Mojo Men,
Nico,
Grey Daturas,
The American Breed,
Man Eating Sloth,
Newcleus,
Desert Stars,
The Leaves,
Sarah Menescal,
Gang Green,
The Toasters,
Darondo,
R.M.O.,
Pussy Galore,
Von Mondo,
Cheater Slicks,
Bob Dylan,
The Motions,
The Slits,
Qualms,
Dead Boys,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Soft Machine,
Magma,
Anthony Braxton,
Eurythmics,
Sixth Finger,
Mars,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Vogues,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Quantec,
The Modern Lovers,
June Days,
Rekid,
The Remains,
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.