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 Singapore and from Edmonton.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Philadelphia.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 Al Stewart to the grime 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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Connie Case record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
E-Dancer,
Shuggie Otis,
Subhumans,
The Music Machine,
EPMD,
Gil Scott Heron,
X-Ray Spex,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Spoonie Gee,
U.S. Maple,
Patti Smith,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sound Behaviour,
Joey Negro,
Rufus Thomas,
Yaz,
The Kinks,
Laurel Aitken,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Archie Shepp,
the Germs,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Amon Düül II,
Neil Young,
Danielle Patucci,
Sex Pistols,
Prince Buster,
Man Eating Sloth,
Harpers Bizarre,
B.T. Express,
Pulsallama,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Count Five,
The Buckinghams,
Sun Ra,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Techniques,
Pantaleimon,
Glambeats Corp.,
DNA,
Peter and Kerry,
Jandek,
Yellowson,
Bang On A Can,
Severed Heads,
Dead Boys,
Flamin' Groovies,
Echospace,
The J.B.'s,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
ABC,
Byron Stingily,
The Gun Club,
The Young Rascals,
The Black Dice,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Raincoats,
Ornette Coleman,
Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy.
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.