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 Panama and from Mumbai.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Fad Gadget to the disco 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 Jeff Mills. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Excepter,
Barry Ungar,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Joe Smooth,
Ralphi Rosario,
Metal Thangz,
Dead Boys,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Be Bop Deluxe,
Reuben Wilson,
Johnny Clarke,
Niagra,
The Dead C,
The Invisible,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fire Engines,
Jacques Brel,
Audionom,
Scan 7,
New Age Steppers,
Albert Ayler,
The Standells,
Zapp,
Fat Boys,
Technova,
Lower 48,
Dave Gahan,
Stiv Bators,
Young Marble Giants,
Jeru the Damaja,
Barclay James Harvest,
Harry Pussy,
Malaria!,
Sun Ra,
Al Stewart,
Thee Headcoats,
Ornette Coleman,
Chris Corsano,
Index,
Tubeway Army,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cheater Slicks,
Soft Machine,
Joyce Sims,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Dawn Penn,
Electric Prunes,
Fugazi,
Colin Newman,
Marmalade,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bill Wells,
John Cale,
Wings,
The Barracudas,
Peter and Kerry,
Iggy Pop,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.