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 Mauritius and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 The American Breed to the punk 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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharoah Sanders 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Visage,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mission of Burma,
Pylon,
Rites of Spring,
Piero Umiliani,
Urselle,
Dark Day,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Amon Düül II,
PIL,
Boz Scaggs,
Bang On A Can,
Pharoah Sanders,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
China Crisis,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
kango's stein massive,
Smog,
The Blackbyrds,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Hot Snakes,
The Vogues,
Popol Vuh,
Babytalk,
Rufus Thomas,
Warsaw,
Sister Nancy,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Tres Demented,
The Electric Prunes,
John Cale,
The Dirtbombs,
The Saints,
E-Dancer,
The Black Dice,
the Sonics,
The Neon Judgement,
Main Source,
X-101,
Angry Samoans,
Mo-Dettes,
Pulsallama,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Joyce Sims,
Duran Duran,
Derrick May,
Jacob Miller,
the Association,
The Gun Club,
Porter Ricks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Drexciya,
Steve Hackett,
Donald Byrd,
Gabor Szabo,
Model 500,
Jeff Mills,
The Index,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Absolute Body Control,
Deadbeat,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Stiv Bators,
Quantec, Quantec, Quantec, Quantec.
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.