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 Guinea and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Yellowson,
The Sound,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Amon Düül,
Barry Ungar,
Television,
Public Enemy,
Mission of Burma,
The Gun Club,
Chris & Cosey,
Scion,
Throbbing Gristle,
Leonard Cohen,
John Foxx,
Jawbox,
Gang of Four,
Delon & Dalcan,
Dark Day,
The Fire Engines,
The Dirtbombs,
Donald Byrd,
Delta 5,
Easy Going,
The Count Five,
Grauzone,
Lightning Bolt,
Traffic Nightmare,
DNA,
Bobby Byrd,
Don Cherry,
China Crisis,
Cecil Taylor,
The Invisible,
B.T. Express,
T. Rex,
Hoover,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Associates,
Stockholm Monsters,
Shoche,
Thompson Twins,
Deadbeat,
Sällskapet,
Rites of Spring,
Smog,
Sam Rivers,
Procol Harum,
Lindisfarne,
Pylon,
Basic Channel,
Kayak,
The Durutti Column,
Magazine,
Sugar Minott,
The Wake,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Saints,
Lucky Dragons,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rapeman,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Moody Blues,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.