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 Saudi Arabia and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
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 The Skatalites to the jazz 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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All Boogie Down Productions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lightning Bolt,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Aloha Tigers,
The Five Americans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Pet Shop Boys,
Marmalade,
Cal Tjader,
Nirvana,
Robert Wyatt,
Black Flag,
The Slits,
10cc,
Scratch Acid,
Clear Light,
Wasted Youth,
The Invisible,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Minnie Riperton,
Tommy Roe,
The Happenings,
Ralphi Rosario,
Black Moon,
Pierre Henry,
Jerry's Kids,
Severed Heads,
The Shadows of Knight,
This Heat,
T. Rex,
Audionom,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Infiniti,
Gang of Four,
Marvin Gaye,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Television,
The Gun Club,
Judy Mowatt,
The Dead C,
H. Thieme,
Tom Boy,
Mantronix,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Wire,
Rites of Spring,
New York Dolls,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rapeman,
The Buckinghams,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
48th St. Collective,
Eric Dolphy,
Donny Hathaway,
Reuben Wilson,
the Slits,
New Order,
the Sonics,
The Pretty Things,
Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops.
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.