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 Sudan and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Cecil Taylor to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sandy B record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 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 The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Camberwell Now,
The Cure,
Mark Hollis,
Rekid,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sonny Sharrock,
Marvin Gaye,
Aural Exciters,
Gabor Szabo,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Motorama,
Neu!,
Eden Ahbez,
John Cale,
Eric Dolphy,
Porter Ricks,
Henry Cow,
Warsaw,
Pantytec,
Marshall Jefferson,
Max Romeo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Vogues,
Ponytail,
The J.B.'s,
Grauzone,
Quadrant,
Buzzcocks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Grey Daturas,
The Durutti Column,
Amon Düül,
Gang Green,
Crime,
Robert Hood,
The Searchers,
Cabaret Voltaire,
the Bar-Kays,
Accadde A,
Pantaleimon,
Brick,
Minny Pops,
The Saints,
Magma,
Liliput,
Jeff Lynne,
Gerry Rafferty,
Terry Callier,
The Cowsills,
Royal Trux,
Hardrive,
Supertramp,
Donny Hathaway,
the Normal,
These Immortal Souls,
Youth Brigade,
Lakeside,
Depeche Mode,
Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip.
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.