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 Botswana and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Sight & Sound to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gerry Rafferty record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arthur Verocai,
Qualms,
Derrick May,
Second Layer,
Andrew Hill,
Moss Icon,
Von Mondo,
The Wake,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sällskapet,
Unrelated Segments,
Sugar Minott,
Prince Buster,
This Heat,
The Move,
The Fugs,
Gang Starr,
Fat Boys,
Joey Negro,
Stiv Bators,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Glenn Branca,
Lyres,
Junior Murvin,
Marc Almond,
Rotary Connection,
Pantaleimon,
Michelle Simonal,
Alison Limerick,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Lalann,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Heaven 17,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amon Düül,
Alphaville,
Flash Fearless,
Minutemen,
E-Dancer,
Glambeats Corp.,
Rufus Thomas,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Smoke,
Roy Ayers,
Sister Nancy,
New York Dolls,
The Residents,
Brand Nubian,
Y Pants,
Tres Demented,
The Flesh Eaters,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Divine Comedy,
Throbbing Gristle,
FM Einheit,
Graham Central Station,
Silicon Teens,
The Techniques,
F. McDonald,
Sex Pistols,
Suicide, Suicide, Suicide, Suicide.
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.