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 Benin and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Tokyo.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Delta 5 to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Susan Cadogan,
Anthony Braxton,
Camouflage,
Rufus Thomas,
The Associates,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Black Pus,
Johnny Clarke,
Zero Boys,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ponytail,
Big Daddy Kane,
Traffic Nightmare,
Deakin,
Hardrive,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Kenny Larkin,
Arthur Verocai,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Bang On A Can,
Pantytec,
Little Man,
Whodini,
Gang of Four,
Juan Atkins,
Main Source,
Ronnie Foster,
The Sound,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Parry Music,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Newcleus,
Dawn Penn,
Pulsallama,
The Seeds,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Depeche Mode,
The Kinks,
Clear Light,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Blake Baxter,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Yaz,
Das Ding,
Joyce Sims,
Robert Wyatt,
Scott Walker,
Stereo Dub,
David Bowie,
Skarface,
The Dirtbombs,
Carl Craig,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ornette Coleman,
Barrington Levy,
Albert Ayler,
Harmonia,
The Saints,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.