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 Tunisia and from Mexico City.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Grey Daturas to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hoover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
Mr. Review,
Youth Brigade,
The Monks,
Andrew Hill,
Nick Fraelich,
Pantaleimon,
Gang Green,
Isaac Hayes,
The Alarm Clocks,
Crooked Eye,
Sound Behaviour,
La Düsseldorf,
Brothers Johnson,
New Order,
Franke,
Soul Sonic Force,
Young Marble Giants,
Black Moon,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Thee Headcoats,
Jacques Brel,
Fatback Band,
Josef K,
The Standells,
Shuggie Otis,
10cc,
Joey Negro,
Mo-Dettes,
Sexual Harrassment,
Das Ding,
The Index,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Fat Boys,
The Real Kids,
Quantec,
Technova,
Charles Mingus,
Silicon Teens,
The Cure,
Donald Byrd,
Rufus Thomas,
Darondo,
Idris Muhammad,
X-101,
The Blackbyrds,
Smog,
Blake Baxter,
Tommy Roe,
Anthony Braxton,
Maurizio,
The Tremeloes,
The Searchers,
Albert Ayler,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mary Jane Girls,
48th St. Collective,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Television,
The Moody Blues,
Bronski Beat,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.