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 Nicaragua and from Manchester.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Spoonie Gee to the rock 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 Al Stewart. All the underground hits.
All New York Dolls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric B and Rakim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zero Boys,
Boredoms,
Chris & Cosey,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Dual Sessions,
Throbbing Gristle,
Symarip,
Ken Boothe,
Young Marble Giants,
Cal Tjader,
Intrusion,
Saccharine Trust,
Tubeway Army,
Surgeon,
Ronnie Foster,
Carl Craig,
Terrestrial Tones,
Funky Four + One,
Marmalade,
John Holt,
Little Man,
Gong,
The Knickerbockers,
Japan,
Lindisfarne,
Gang Green,
Rites of Spring,
New Order,
Joensuu 1685,
Rekid,
Sex Pistols,
Pierre Henry,
Eurythmics,
Freddie Wadling,
Boz Scaggs,
These Immortal Souls,
Silicon Teens,
David McCallum,
Mark Hollis,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Doors,
Don Cherry,
Stereo Dub,
One Last Wish,
Jandek,
Graham Central Station,
Albert Ayler,
Los Fastidios,
The Beau Brummels,
Gastr Del Sol,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Hoover,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Deadbeat,
Ice-T,
Robert Wyatt,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.