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 Nepal and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Cecil Taylor to the disco 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Judy Mowatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Henry Cow,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Golliwogs,
D'Angelo,
Brick,
Roger Hodgson,
Robert Wyatt,
John Cale,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jeff Lynne,
Rekid,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Crispian St. Peters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Boredoms,
Hot Snakes,
Interpol,
Davy DMX,
Urselle,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Absolute Body Control,
David Axelrod,
Scientists,
This Heat,
The Fugs,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Monochrome Set,
Panda Bear,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Neon Judgement,
The Beau Brummels,
Ludus,
Ultravox,
Eve St. Jones,
The Move,
Sister Nancy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
June of 44,
Kerrie Biddell,
Jeff Mills,
Icehouse,
The Motions,
Kas Product,
Newcleus,
The Smiths,
Oneida,
Ronan,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Fire Engines,
The Real Kids,
Sam Rivers,
Lalann,
Essential Logic,
Alison Limerick,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.