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 Denmark and from Glasgow.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bad Manners to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Siouxsie and the Banshees. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Panda Bear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
Sun City Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Jeff Lynne,
Aswad,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Agent Orange,
Sun Ra,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bush Tetras,
the Human League,
Roy Ayers,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The J.B.'s,
Hot Snakes,
Ralphi Rosario,
Althea and Donna,
L. Decosne,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Depeche Mode,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Cymande,
EPMD,
The United States of America,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lyres,
The Monochrome Set,
Robert Wyatt,
Isaac Hayes,
Masters at Work,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Robert Görl,
Cheater Slicks,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ten City,
Chrome,
Lindisfarne,
Tubeway Army,
the Germs,
Wings,
Mars,
Von Mondo,
Lee Hazlewood,
Donny Hathaway,
Mandrill,
Leonard Cohen,
Drexciya,
Lalann,
Brass Construction,
Rufus Thomas,
FM Einheit,
Tomorrow,
The Move,
Qualms,
Chris Corsano,
The Sonics,
Subhumans,
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.