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 Togo and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
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 Delta 5 to the jazz 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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Guru Guru,
Harpers Bizarre,
China Crisis,
Cybotron,
Whodini,
The American Breed,
DJ Sneak,
The Golliwogs,
Brass Construction,
Ronan,
David McCallum,
John Cale,
Interpol,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Outsiders,
JFA,
Young Marble Giants,
Susan Cadogan,
Fear,
Black Flag,
Kool Moe Dee,
The United States of America,
cv313,
The Black Dice,
Thompson Twins,
Fatback Band,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Zeros,
Drexciya,
Maleditus Sound,
Organ,
Swell Maps,
Kenny Larkin,
Peter & Gordon,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Association,
R.M.O.,
Marvin Gaye,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gerry Rafferty,
Jeff Mills,
Anakelly,
Minnie Riperton,
Sex Pistols,
Laurel Aitken,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Isaac Hayes,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Gories,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Spoonie Gee,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Human League,
Aaron Thompson,
Dorothy Ashby,
Blancmange,
Matthew Bourne,
Nirvana,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.