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 Samoa and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Sound to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Litter. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Lynne 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 an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pagans,
David Bowie,
Andrew Hill,
Lightning Bolt,
Fluxion,
Barrington Levy,
Boredoms,
The Wake,
The Toasters,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
Max Romeo,
The Kinks,
Thee Headcoats,
Au Pairs,
Black Sheep,
The American Breed,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
June of 44,
Ultravox,
Jandek,
The Fortunes,
The Electric Prunes,
Tubeway Army,
Scientists,
the Slits,
Trumans Water,
Procol Harum,
Index,
Junior Murvin,
Pet Shop Boys,
John Foxx,
Brick,
LL Cool J,
Erasure,
Sister Nancy,
The Victims,
John Cale,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gang of Four,
The Gap Band,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Make Up,
Fugazi,
James White and The Blacks,
Colin Newman,
Terry Callier,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Blackbyrds,
Dawn Penn,
Organ,
The Moleskins,
Spandau Ballet,
The Leaves,
Al Stewart,
The Moody Blues,
Q and Not U,
Scion,
The Young Rascals,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.