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 Chile 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Stockholm.
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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Interpol to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The United States of America. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swans 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Fluxion,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Blancmange,
Scott Walker,
Eden Ahbez,
Skriet,
the Normal,
Loose Ends,
Joe Finger,
Marmalade,
Pantaleimon,
Chris & Cosey,
Sällskapet,
The Raincoats,
Pierre Henry,
Babytalk,
The Litter,
Moss Icon,
Tomorrow,
Electric Prunes,
Scion,
Kerri Chandler,
Inner City,
Young Marble Giants,
Section 25,
Erykah Badu,
Mr. Review,
Crash Course in Science,
Average White Band,
PIL,
The Fire Engines,
Groovy Waters,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gichy Dan,
Can,
New York Dolls,
the Swans,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Quadrant,
Heaven 17,
Roger Hodgson,
Sixth Finger,
The Martian,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gong,
Kaleidoscope,
The Stooges,
Graham Central Station,
Leonard Cohen,
Aural Exciters,
Kurtis Blow,
Pussy Galore,
Janne Schatter,
Pole,
Lou Reed,
Easy Going,
Agitation Free,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.