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 Bologna.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 sitar 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 Marshall Jefferson to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Tears for Fears. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television Personalities record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Divine Comedy,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Zero Boys,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kayak,
Organ,
Wally Richardson,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pole,
Kurtis Blow,
Scott Walker,
FM Einheit,
Flipper,
Marvin Gaye,
Cecil Taylor,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
X-101,
Funky Four + One,
Fad Gadget,
Surgeon,
Jimmy McGriff,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Monochrome Set,
One Last Wish,
Sparks,
Television Personalities,
Bobby Womack,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
Suicide,
Agitation Free,
John Coltrane,
Camouflage,
ABBA,
The Knickerbockers,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Happenings,
Mr. Review,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Sex Pistols,
The Velvet Underground,
Barrington Levy,
Robert Görl,
Joe Smooth,
Monolake,
Sugar Minott,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pantaleimon,
Steve Hackett,
Cameo,
Tommy Roe,
Blake Baxter,
Shuggie Otis,
Colin Newman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
John Foxx,
Crispy Ambulance,
Visage,
This Heat,
Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis, Mark Hollis.
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.