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 Korea South and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Barbara Tucker to the punk 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 Throbbing Gristle. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Bowie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Boredoms,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Soulsonic Force,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Victims,
Curtis Mayfield,
Country Teasers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Black Flag,
In Retrospect,
Kayak,
Magma,
Swell Maps,
Bluetip,
Sun Ra,
The Pop Group,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Patti Smith,
Excepter,
Radiohead,
Skriet,
Con Funk Shun,
Jacob Miller,
Arthur Verocai,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mission of Burma,
JFA,
Darondo,
Camberwell Now,
Boz Scaggs,
Suicide,
L. Decosne,
The Martian,
Echospace,
New York Dolls,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Blues Magoos,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Hashim,
The Sound,
Gang of Four,
Derrick May,
Soft Cell,
Anthony Braxton,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gabor Szabo,
Intrusion,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Slits,
Tropical Tobacco,
Marcia Griffiths,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Girls At Our Best!,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
8 Eyed Spy,
Hasil Adkins,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.