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 Iceland and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Easy Going to the rock 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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All Ronnie Foster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bizarre Inc. 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Fire Engines,
Harry Pussy,
The Divine Comedy,
The Standells,
Eli Mardock,
The Knickerbockers,
Eddi Front,
Public Enemy,
Reagan Youth,
John Foxx,
U.S. Maple,
The Moleskins,
Crash Course in Science,
Television,
Aaron Thompson,
Icehouse,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Agitation Free,
Godley & Creme,
Hardrive,
Stiv Bators,
Adolescents,
the Fania All-Stars,
Chrome,
Derrick Morgan,
Lindisfarne,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Cymande,
The Buckinghams,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Steve Hackett,
The Golliwogs,
Radiohead,
Lyres,
The Cure,
The Mummies,
Urselle,
The Black Dice,
Scratch Acid,
Faust,
Bluetip,
Donald Byrd,
Zero Boys,
Simply Red,
Jeru the Damaja,
Desert Stars,
Deepchord,
David McCallum,
Electric Prunes,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jimmy McGriff,
Don Cherry,
F. McDonald,
Banda Bassotti,
Monks,
Pierre Henry,
MDC,
Infiniti,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Seeds,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.