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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Edmonton.
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 Spokane and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the rock 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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All Idris Muhammad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry Gold Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Icehouse,
Intrusion,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Music Machine,
Grauzone,
Amon Düül,
David Bowie,
The Techniques,
R.M.O.,
Lakeside,
Scratch Acid,
Carl Craig,
New Age Steppers,
La Düsseldorf,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Happenings,
Tommy Roe,
Zero Boys,
Sam Rivers,
PIL,
Surgeon,
The Gories,
Lungfish,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Davy DMX,
Crispy Ambulance,
Joy Division,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Roy Ayers,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Busters,
The Blues Magoos,
The Five Americans,
Andrew Hill,
Silicon Teens,
Quantec,
Section 25,
Index,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Fugs,
Drive Like Jehu,
Eddi Front,
Symarip,
Cluster,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Chrome,
Robert Wyatt,
Pagans,
Man Eating Sloth,
Agitation Free,
Danielle Patucci,
Cybotron,
Marcia Griffiths,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gil Scott Heron,
Vladislav Delay,
Wasted Youth,
These Immortal Souls,
The Stooges,
Matthew Halsall,
B.T. Express,
The Durutti Column,
Lou Reed & Metallica, Lou Reed & Metallica, Lou Reed & Metallica, Lou Reed & Metallica.
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.