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 Nepal and from Houston.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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 Eric Copeland. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker + Sunn O))) 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 dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fugs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Wells,
The Detroit Cobras,
Grandmaster Flash,
Matthew Halsall,
Yazoo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Chris Corsano,
Andrew Hill,
Mars,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Marshall Jefferson,
UT,
Pantaleimon,
Rhythm & Sound,
Marvin Gaye,
John Coltrane,
L. Decosne,
Hoover,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Surgeon,
Don Cherry,
Eric B and Rakim,
Massinfluence,
Tubeway Army,
The Sonics,
Al Stewart,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Johnny Clarke,
Electric Prunes,
Dennis Brown,
Tom Boy,
Alice Coltrane,
Dark Day,
The Last Poets,
Todd Rundgren,
Sixth Finger,
Neu!,
Bootsy Collins,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
John Lydon,
Bobby Sherman,
The Cowsills,
Das Ding,
Flipper,
Half Japanese,
Sun Ra,
Mandrill,
Joy Division,
Moby Grape,
Blancmange,
Magma,
Pulsallama,
Angry Samoans,
Arthur Verocai,
Judy Mowatt,
Kenny Larkin,
the Swans,
Bauhaus,
Mark Hollis,
Sparks,
Lower 48,
Marmalade,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Beau Brummels,
Marc Almond, Marc Almond, Marc Almond, Marc Almond.
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.