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 Kiribati and from Edmonton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Wings to the grime 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 United States of America. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alice Coltrane 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 snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Urselle record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Joyce Sims,
Robert Hood,
The Misunderstood,
Scion,
Soulsonic Force,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Janne Schatter,
Yellowson,
Delta 5,
Juan Atkins,
John Lydon,
The Selecter,
Mantronix,
Ronan,
Letta Mbulu,
Brand Nubian,
the Sonics,
Avey Tare,
Angry Samoans,
K-Klass,
John Foxx,
Rufus Thomas,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Cramps,
The Blackbyrds,
Davy DMX,
Black Flag,
The Move,
Harmonia,
Harry Pussy,
Tropical Tobacco,
MDC,
Arab on Radar,
Smog,
This Heat,
Godley & Creme,
Nirvana,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Robert Görl,
Marmalade,
the Human League,
Eden Ahbez,
Soft Cell,
The Vogues,
Joe Smooth,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Thompson Twins,
Mad Mike,
The Victims,
Jacques Brel,
Joey Negro,
Aural Exciters,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Second Layer,
David McCallum,
Funky Four + One,
Chrome,
Siglo XX,
LL Cool J,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.