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 Nigeria and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 808 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron to the rock 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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quantec,
Symarip,
Swell Maps,
Pierre Henry,
The Selecter,
The Doors,
Darondo,
the Swans,
Bauhaus,
Second Layer,
Ultimate Spinach,
Blossom Toes,
Japan,
Sparks,
The J.B.'s,
The New Christs,
Connie Case,
The Stooges,
K-Klass,
Black Sheep,
the Fania All-Stars,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Agent Orange,
Bill Wells,
Arthur Verocai,
The Seeds,
The Slits,
Chris & Cosey,
Susan Cadogan,
Jandek,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Excepter,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Joe Finger,
Cybotron,
In Retrospect,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
ABC,
Judy Mowatt,
The Offenders,
Leonard Cohen,
Nation of Ulysses,
Inner City,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
the Germs,
Erasure,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bill Near,
Stiv Bators,
Wings,
The Dead C,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Cowsills,
Delta 5,
Spoonie Gee,
Livin' Joy,
Chrome,
Tom Boy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sex Pistols,
The Motions,
Lower 48,
Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu.
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.