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 Haiti and from Stockholm.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 harpsichord 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 Charles Mingus to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Kas Product. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Sneak 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lalann,
Henry Cow,
Cabaret Voltaire,
OOIOO,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Girls At Our Best!,
Television Personalities,
Unrelated Segments,
The Cure,
X-Ray Spex,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pulsallama,
Quantec,
Don Cherry,
Barrington Levy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Neu!,
JFA,
Monolake,
Peter & Gordon,
The Vogues,
Essential Logic,
Marshall Jefferson,
Roxy Music,
Malaria!,
Moby Grape,
Jacques Brel,
Dual Sessions,
Cal Tjader,
Monks,
Marc Almond,
Aswad,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Newcleus,
Babytalk,
Gabor Szabo,
the Soft Cell,
Absolute Body Control,
Bootsy Collins,
Ornette Coleman,
T. Rex,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Danielle Patucci,
The Toasters,
Man Parrish,
Idris Muhammad,
Delta 5,
Bad Manners,
The Black Dice,
Minnie Riperton,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Intrusion,
Pussy Galore,
Basic Channel,
Kas Product,
Mo-Dettes,
Junior Murvin,
Kaleidoscope,
Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green.
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.