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 Taiwan and from Columbus.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Camberwell Now to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faust,
Johnny Clarke,
Popol Vuh,
Gil Scott Heron,
Schoolly D,
Circle Jerks,
The Names,
Mr. Review,
The Walker Brothers,
The Pop Group,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Throbbing Gristle,
Joe Finger,
Ossler,
Tom Boy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
John Coltrane,
Bush Tetras,
Buzzcocks,
Young Marble Giants,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Buckinghams,
Delta 5,
David Axelrod,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bobby Byrd,
The Sound,
Kenny Larkin,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Blake Baxter,
Chris & Cosey,
John Holt,
The Five Americans,
The Sisters of Mercy,
48th St. Collective,
Quadrant,
The Moleskins,
Fela Kuti,
The Slits,
Radiohead,
Tim Buckley,
Minny Pops,
The Gun Club,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Tubeway Army,
Soul Sonic Force,
Camberwell Now,
Electric Prunes,
Audionom,
Cameo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mission of Burma,
Eric Dolphy,
Subhumans,
Skaos,
Stereo Dub,
The Trojans,
Rotary Connection,
Barrington Levy,
Black Moon,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.