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 Switzerland 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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 The Five Americans to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All The Barracudas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Golliwogs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Joe & The Fish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eve St. Jones,
Roger Hodgson,
Main Source,
Sister Nancy,
Albert Ayler,
X-101,
The Standells,
Joe Finger,
Sparks,
The Barracudas,
The Neon Judgement,
Rosa Yemen,
Barbara Tucker,
Jandek,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
L. Decosne,
Rufus Thomas,
Throbbing Gristle,
Derrick Morgan,
Rakim,
Lou Reed,
Jacques Brel,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Alarm Clocks,
the Slits,
Gang of Four,
La Düsseldorf,
Groovy Waters,
Buzzcocks,
Youth Brigade,
John Coltrane,
Sexual Harrassment,
Mission of Burma,
Jeff Lynne,
Young Marble Giants,
Surgeon,
Anthony Braxton,
Hasil Adkins,
Severed Heads,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Silicon Teens,
Altered Images,
The Associates,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Fugs,
Maurizio,
Niagra,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Loose Ends,
X-102,
The Blackbyrds,
Pierre Henry,
Fad Gadget,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lower 48,
Howard Jones,
Whodini,
Scott Walker,
Spandau Ballet,
Blake Baxter,
Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack.
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.