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 Switzerland and from Glasgow.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Altered Images 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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All DeepChord presents Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Suburban Knight,
Bang On A Can,
John Cale,
Erasure,
Faraquet,
Barry Ungar,
Simply Red,
Moss Icon,
Donny Hathaway,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sparks,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Soft Cell,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pussy Galore,
Danielle Patucci,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Donald Byrd,
Loose Ends,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Roy Ayers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mo-Dettes,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sex Pistols,
Maleditus Sound,
Joy Division,
Chrome,
Inner City,
The Martian,
Boz Scaggs,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fuzztones,
Darondo,
The Grass Roots,
Scott Walker,
the Association,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Piero Umiliani,
Theoretical Girls,
Bush Tetras,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
Ituana,
ABC,
Tomorrow,
the Germs,
Absolute Body Control,
Toni Rubio,
Trumans Water,
X-101,
The United States of America,
Rotary Connection,
Marine Girls,
Eric Copeland,
Half Japanese,
Agitation Free,
Kevin Saunderson,
Hashim,
David Bowie,
Fatback Band,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.