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 Uganda and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Scan 7 to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Susan Cadogan. All the underground hits.
All Accadde A tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Henry Cow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Litter,
The Real Kids,
The Black Dice,
Mark Hollis,
Flamin' Groovies,
Neil Young,
Underground Resistance,
Scientists,
Jacques Brel,
Lebanon Hanover,
Derrick Morgan,
Glenn Branca,
Excepter,
Agent Orange,
Clear Light,
The Victims,
Reuben Wilson,
Piero Umiliani,
Popol Vuh,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Velvet Underground,
Andrew Hill,
Cymande,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Kinks,
Smog,
E-Dancer,
10cc,
Sun City Girls,
Marc Almond,
Grey Daturas,
Drexciya,
Archie Shepp,
Barrington Levy,
Gastr Del Sol,
Stetsasonic,
Lyres,
The Gap Band,
Alison Limerick,
Black Moon,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pet Shop Boys,
Interpol,
Moss Icon,
Intrusion,
Cecil Taylor,
The Happenings,
The Cramps,
Albert Ayler,
R.M.O.,
Brick,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Scion,
Fad Gadget,
Faraquet,
Zero Boys,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bizarre Inc.,
Vladislav Delay,
Gil Scott Heron,
Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest.
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.