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 Panama and from Woodstock.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Paris.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Dennis Brown to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mo-Dettes,
Nico,
the Normal,
The Blackbyrds,
Scion,
Nik Kershaw,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Jeff Lynne,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
48th St. Collective,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Steve Hackett,
Gong,
Amon Düül,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Human League,
Suburban Knight,
Toni Rubio,
Alison Limerick,
Minutemen,
Hot Snakes,
The Misunderstood,
Yellowson,
Bill Wells,
Goldenarms,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
James White and The Blacks,
Bizarre Inc.,
Marc Almond,
Joe Finger,
The Grass Roots,
The Detroit Cobras,
Panda Bear,
Bootsy Collins,
the Swans,
The Knickerbockers,
Negative Approach,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Minnie Riperton,
The Velvet Underground,
the Bar-Kays,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ultra Naté,
Swans,
Alton Ellis,
Carl Craig,
Bill Near,
Harmonia,
The Associates,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bobby Womack,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Barry Ungar,
Roxy Music,
Adolescents,
Half Japanese,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Modern Lovers,
Khruangbin, Khruangbin, Khruangbin, Khruangbin.
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.