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 Guyana and from Taipei.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
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 Crime to the rap 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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shoche,
Scratch Acid,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Eric Copeland,
Roy Ayers,
Bob Dylan,
Altered Images,
Blake Baxter,
Glenn Branca,
Fela Kuti,
Hot Snakes,
Clear Light,
The Gladiators,
Soft Machine,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Siglo XX,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Cowsills,
Scan 7,
Qualms,
the Soft Cell,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Cecil Taylor,
Isaac Hayes,
Soul Sonic Force,
Black Bananas,
Harry Pussy,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Slackers,
Bush Tetras,
the Slits,
The Skatalites,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bronski Beat,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Eli Mardock,
Neu!,
The Kinks,
CMW,
La Düsseldorf,
The Names,
Fad Gadget,
Ronan,
The Dave Clark Five,
Junior Murvin,
Public Enemy,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Monochrome Set,
Black Moon,
The Stooges,
Archie Shepp,
The Blues Magoos,
Robert Wyatt,
Big Daddy Kane,
Angry Samoans,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Quantec,
Joey Negro,
Fat Boys,
Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey, Chris & Cosey.
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.