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 Sudan and from Jakarta.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 theremin 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 Procol Harum to the punk 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liaisons Dangereuses 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Freddie Wadling,
Aural Exciters,
Young Marble Giants,
Eve St. Jones,
Qualms,
Colin Newman,
Nils Olav,
James White and The Blacks,
Terry Callier,
MC5,
The Cramps,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Cowsills,
Nas,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Cecil Taylor,
The Durutti Column,
Marc Almond,
JFA,
Yazoo,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Searchers,
Amazonics,
Isaac Hayes,
Agitation Free,
Fela Kuti,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Stooges,
Buzzcocks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Stetsasonic,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mary Jane Girls,
Absolute Body Control,
Guru Guru,
Pierre Henry,
Bob Dylan,
Arcadia,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Eurythmics,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Mars,
Intrusion,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Brick,
Inner City,
Section 25,
Derrick Morgan,
David McCallum,
The Dave Clark Five,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Associates,
Black Pus,
Rites of Spring,
Mantronix,
Derrick May,
Zapp,
Susan Cadogan,
Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims.
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.