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 Indonesia and from Copenhagen.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Morten Harket to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bar-Kays. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Camberwell Now,
the Swans,
Pagans,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ponytail,
Technova,
Amazonics,
The Monochrome Set,
Black Flag,
Marcia Griffiths,
Eden Ahbez,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rites of Spring,
Dorothy Ashby,
Television,
The Count Five,
Alton Ellis,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Crispy Ambulance,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Livin' Joy,
The Five Americans,
Johnny Clarke,
Moebius,
cv313,
Kevin Saunderson,
Underground Resistance,
Guru Guru,
UT,
Tim Buckley,
The Vogues,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sister Nancy,
Eric Dolphy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The United States of America,
The Litter,
Fat Boys,
The Zeros,
Crispian St. Peters,
New York Dolls,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Reuben Wilson,
Stereo Dub,
Joey Negro,
Make Up,
Throbbing Gristle,
Kerrie Biddell,
Adolescents,
Ronnie Foster,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Radiohead,
The Real Kids,
Cluster,
The Fortunes,
Sugar Minott,
Minor Threat,
Ossler,
MC5,
Von Mondo,
The Birthday Party,
The Fuzztones,
Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free.
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.