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 Maldives and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 theremin 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 Peter & Gordon to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Richard Hell and the Voidoids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Golliwogs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Desert Stars,
Colin Newman,
Ornette Coleman,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Franke,
Bluetip,
B.T. Express,
Ash Ra Tempel,
a-ha,
Johnny Clarke,
R.M.O.,
Essential Logic,
Mr. Review,
Electric Light Orchestra,
LL Cool J,
Spandau Ballet,
Henry Cow,
Half Japanese,
H. Thieme,
10cc,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Howard Jones,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Swans,
The Gories,
Magazine,
Minutemen,
Delta 5,
Whodini,
Gabor Szabo,
Scion,
Alice Coltrane,
Mantronix,
Soft Cell,
John Coltrane,
Unwound,
Mo-Dettes,
Stetsasonic,
Public Image Ltd.,
MDC,
Pulsallama,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Nik Kershaw,
Sam Rivers,
The Zeros,
Fela Kuti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Y Pants,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Mandrill,
Main Source,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bobby Womack,
Rod Modell,
The Pop Group,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.