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 Vietnam and from Columbus.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 AZ to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All Grauzone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lizzy Mercier Descloux record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Gang of Four,
Henry Cow,
Circle Jerks,
X-102,
Idris Muhammad,
Jandek,
Barrington Levy,
Crime,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Janne Schatter,
Eddi Front,
Grey Daturas,
Boogie Down Productions,
Archie Shepp,
Scientists,
Fad Gadget,
Roger Hodgson,
James White and The Blacks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rotary Connection,
Jacob Miller,
Erasure,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kenny Larkin,
The Victims,
Monolake,
Roxy Music,
Can,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bill Near,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Eric Dolphy,
Camberwell Now,
Easy Going,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Au Pairs,
The Residents,
The Remains,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Main Source,
Isaac Hayes,
Robert Görl,
The Seeds,
The Music Machine,
Jesper Dahlback,
Soft Cell,
Scratch Acid,
David Bowie,
Piero Umiliani,
Tubeway Army,
Tom Boy,
Yellowson,
Slave,
Nirvana,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Move,
Rhythm & Sound,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.