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 Niger and from Lyon.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Index to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Television tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camouflage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Adolescents,
Newcleus,
Circle Jerks,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Gap Band,
David Axelrod,
Index,
Nik Kershaw,
Shoche,
Sight & Sound,
Average White Band,
Fugazi,
Judy Mowatt,
Q and Not U,
The Cure,
Matthew Bourne,
Mary Jane Girls,
Blancmange,
ABBA,
Minor Threat,
Saccharine Trust,
Althea and Donna,
Sam Rivers,
Ossler,
Black Sheep,
Quadrant,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Slave,
Freddie Wadling,
Ponytail,
Von Mondo,
Rapeman,
Amon Düül,
Johnny Osbourne,
John Cale,
Funky Four + One,
Unrelated Segments,
Massinfluence,
The Selecter,
Intrusion,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
X-101,
Y Pants,
Tomorrow,
Eden Ahbez,
Jeff Mills,
Surgeon,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Japan,
Amazonics,
Vladislav Delay,
Lungfish,
Roxette,
Lou Reed,
The Velvet Underground,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Avey Tare,
Goldenarms,
The United States of America,
D'Angelo,
Monolake,
Sun City Girls,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.