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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Michael McDonald 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All Hardrive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Searchers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
The Buckinghams,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Tropical Tobacco,
Chris Corsano,
Pagans,
Glenn Branca,
Roxy Music,
Chrome,
The Last Poets,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Birthday Party,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Livin' Joy,
Second Layer,
Ornette Coleman,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Patti Smith,
The Dead C,
Echospace,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Crispian St. Peters,
Masters at Work,
Gong,
Matthew Halsall,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Liliput,
Davy DMX,
DJ Sneak,
Freddie Wadling,
Pussy Galore,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Blues Magoos,
D'Angelo,
Faust,
The Electric Prunes,
Delon & Dalcan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rekid,
John Foxx,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Litter,
Junior Murvin,
The Martian,
The Seeds,
Quando Quango,
The Neon Judgement,
Scott Walker,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Schoolly D,
The Motions,
Depeche Mode,
Ponytail,
Altered Images,
Dual Sessions,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Crooked Eye,
Jawbox,
Johnny Clarke,
Warren Ellis,
The Busters, The Busters, The Busters, The Busters.
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.