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 Liberia and from Tehran.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Lou Reed & John Cale to the techno 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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Easy Going tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rekid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Association,
Charles Mingus,
Godley & Creme,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Blues Magoos,
Monolake,
Magazine,
Minutemen,
The Buckinghams,
The Raincoats,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Howard Jones,
Bush Tetras,
Nico,
Stetsasonic,
Buzzcocks,
Tres Demented,
Lalann,
Hardrive,
Basic Channel,
Fad Gadget,
David Bowie,
F. McDonald,
Goldenarms,
Unrelated Segments,
Make Up,
Ultravox,
One Last Wish,
The Alarm Clocks,
New Age Steppers,
Panda Bear,
Jacob Miller,
Stiv Bators,
Cecil Taylor,
Bauhaus,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
the Bar-Kays,
Symarip,
the Fania All-Stars,
Spoonie Gee,
Scratch Acid,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobby Byrd,
Delta 5,
Al Stewart,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Warsaw,
Jeff Lynne,
Soft Machine,
The Beau Brummels,
T.S.O.L.,
Laurel Aitken,
Don Cherry,
Thompson Twins,
Arab on Radar,
Grauzone,
June Days,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mars,
Amon Düül II,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.