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 the UAE and from Taipei.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Mojo Men to the techno 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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All Dave Gahan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
LL Cool J,
R.M.O.,
The Happenings,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Fire Engines,
Agitation Free,
Liliput,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Thee Headcoats,
48th St. Collective,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Remains,
The Last Poets,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Prince Buster,
Soft Cell,
Henry Cow,
New York Dolls,
The Dead C,
The American Breed,
Alton Ellis,
Vladislav Delay,
Big Daddy Kane,
Icehouse,
Bobby Byrd,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Can,
Arthur Verocai,
Lalo Schifrin,
Con Funk Shun,
Anthony Braxton,
Glambeats Corp.,
Angry Samoans,
AZ,
Ronnie Foster,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Quadrant,
Sarah Menescal,
Cal Tjader,
Index,
Marine Girls,
Stockholm Monsters,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tim Buckley,
Althea and Donna,
Mark Hollis,
Faraquet,
B.T. Express,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lyres,
Smog,
Subhumans,
Bob Dylan,
Barry Ungar,
Bronski Beat,
Lou Reed,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Marmalade,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Electric Light Orchestra,
A Certain Ratio,
Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre.
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.