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 Georgia and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 New York Dolls 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 Sister Nancy. All the underground hits.
All Theoretical Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nico record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Tres Demented,
Yaz,
Sparks,
Zapp,
Swans,
Unwound,
The Stooges,
Talk Talk,
Swell Maps,
Tommy Roe,
Sun City Girls,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Modern Lovers,
Ice-T,
Josef K,
Piero Umiliani,
Donny Hathaway,
The Cure,
Maurizio,
Mission of Burma,
Rakim,
Archie Shepp,
Jeff Lynne,
Eden Ahbez,
Matthew Halsall,
Alphaville,
Lightning Bolt,
Outsiders,
The Wake,
Stiv Bators,
Gang Starr,
Johnny Osbourne,
Radio Birdman,
World's Most,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
David McCallum,
Maleditus Sound,
Cymande,
Bush Tetras,
Idris Muhammad,
Ohio Players,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Johnny Clarke,
Los Fastidios,
Leonard Cohen,
The Smiths,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bobby Sherman,
Cheater Slicks,
Warsaw,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sex Pistols,
Average White Band,
the Soft Cell,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Boz Scaggs,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Das Ding,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eli Mardock,
Skarface,
MC5,
Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring.
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.