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 Paraguay and from Milan.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
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 Siglo XX to the crunk 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 The Fall. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
David Axelrod,
Circle Jerks,
Depeche Mode,
F. McDonald,
Avey Tare,
Jerry's Kids,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Dave Clark Five,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pierre Henry,
Sound Behaviour,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
the Bar-Kays,
Dark Day,
Guru Guru,
The Doors,
The Gap Band,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Simply Red,
Brand Nubian,
Wings,
UT,
Scion,
Smog,
MC5,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Busters,
Brass Construction,
Infiniti,
Sparks,
Minny Pops,
Public Image Ltd.,
Max Romeo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Fluxion,
Black Pus,
Ultimate Spinach,
Section 25,
Mark Hollis,
Das Ding,
Jandek,
The Happenings,
Pussy Galore,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Steve Hackett,
Sam Rivers,
Franke,
Basic Channel,
The Stooges,
Vainqueur,
The Velvet Underground,
The Index,
The Walker Brothers,
Alphaville,
Surgeon,
8 Eyed Spy,
Hashim,
Excepter,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.