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 Gabon and from Philadelphia.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Wings to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Moleskins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Remains,
Boogie Down Productions,
Reagan Youth,
Marshall Jefferson,
the Swans,
Max Romeo,
The Trojans,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Skarface,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Barry Ungar,
Sight & Sound,
Accadde A,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Spoonie Gee,
Carl Craig,
Archie Shepp,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bluetip,
Bill Wells,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jandek,
Nico,
Marc Almond,
Black Flag,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Derrick Morgan,
Hashim,
Outsiders,
Harmonia,
The Modern Lovers,
Ponytail,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Pop Group,
The Red Krayola,
Steve Hackett,
Unwound,
Maurizio,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Black Bananas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Inner City,
The Mojo Men,
Loose Ends,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Kaleidoscope,
Pet Shop Boys,
Wolf Eyes,
Oneida,
The Fugs,
48th St. Collective,
Crooked Eye,
Urselle,
Susan Cadogan,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Peter and Kerry,
Matthew Bourne,
ABC,
Clear Light,
Black Moon,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.