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 Belize and from Mumbai.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Joyce Sims 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 Bauhaus. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Copeland 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
Section 25,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Alarm Clocks,
Quantec,
Gregory Isaacs,
CMW,
Sandy B,
Lightning Bolt,
Wally Richardson,
KRS-One,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Stooges,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Gories,
Maleditus Sound,
Scion,
Freddie Wadling,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Fluxion,
Iggy Pop,
Stereo Dub,
Robert Hood,
Arthur Verocai,
Roxette,
Erasure,
Gabor Szabo,
Barrington Levy,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Grass Roots,
Loose Ends,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Kerri Chandler,
Public Image Ltd.,
Frankie Knuckles,
Johnny Clarke,
AZ,
Deakin,
Bizarre Inc.,
Blake Baxter,
the Swans,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lou Reed,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Trojans,
Oblivians,
Eric B and Rakim,
New York Dolls,
Rites of Spring,
The Mojo Men,
The Names,
Avey Tare,
Saccharine Trust,
Matthew Halsall,
Clear Light,
Howard Jones,
Vladislav Delay,
Chrome,
Main Source,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.