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 Houston.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Oblivians to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tommy Roe 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Ultravox,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Audionom,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
L. Decosne,
Ultimate Spinach,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
T. Rex,
World's Most,
The Barracudas,
Ludus,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Drexciya,
JFA,
Ultra Naté,
Carl Craig,
Black Flag,
Albert Ayler,
Althea and Donna,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Isaac Hayes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Sisters of Mercy,
F. McDonald,
Silicon Teens,
Los Fastidios,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Tomorrow,
The Fuzztones,
Little Man,
Rapeman,
Dual Sessions,
Negative Approach,
Thompson Twins,
ABBA,
Con Funk Shun,
Joe Finger,
Sällskapet,
Davy DMX,
Nick Fraelich,
The Durutti Column,
Ralphi Rosario,
Anthony Braxton,
The Gun Club,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ponytail,
The Slackers,
Motorama,
Aural Exciters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Schoolly D,
Blancmange,
Underground Resistance,
Amon Düül II,
The Tremeloes,
The Dave Clark Five,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Qualms,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bush Tetras,
Scratch Acid,
The Dirtbombs,
a-ha,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.