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 Norway and from Cairo.
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 Jakarta and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the oboe 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 dance 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 Babytalk. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glambeats Corp. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brothers Johnson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
Scrapy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Scott Walker,
Sight & Sound,
Eddi Front,
Man Eating Sloth,
the Germs,
JFA,
Thee Headcoats,
MC5,
Tubeway Army,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Popol Vuh,
The Knickerbockers,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Average White Band,
kango's stein massive,
Aswad,
Connie Case,
Sister Nancy,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Audionom,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Wasted Youth,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Skarface,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Misunderstood,
The Seeds,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Johnny Clarke,
Desert Stars,
Qualms,
Black Bananas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The New Christs,
Essential Logic,
Tom Boy,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Black Moon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Man Parrish,
Livin' Joy,
A Certain Ratio,
Rapeman,
Skaos,
Loose Ends,
the Human League,
Andrew Hill,
Dawn Penn,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Grass Roots,
Basic Channel,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Slits,
Don Cherry,
Lou Reed,
Chris Corsano,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.