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 Australia 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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Darondo to the grunge 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 Vladislav Delay. All the underground hits.
All Angels of Light & Akron/Family tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every R.M.O. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Wings,
Neu!,
The United States of America,
Al Stewart,
Dual Sessions,
Hashim,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Thee Headcoats,
Negative Approach,
Throbbing Gristle,
Dead Boys,
Lou Reed,
Von Mondo,
Alison Limerick,
Ultimate Spinach,
Spoonie Gee,
The Kinks,
Dennis Brown,
New Age Steppers,
Quando Quango,
Jeff Lynne,
Peter and Kerry,
Harry Pussy,
The Slits,
8 Eyed Spy,
L. Decosne,
Visage,
The Searchers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Slits,
Procol Harum,
Fluxion,
Nick Fraelich,
Oneida,
The Evens,
The Wake,
Dawn Penn,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lungfish,
Kurtis Blow,
John Cale,
Symarip,
Marc Almond,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Malaria!,
Neil Young,
Whodini,
Eurythmics,
Fad Gadget,
June Days,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kayak,
Derrick Morgan,
Camberwell Now,
Joe Smooth,
Tommy Roe,
Easy Going,
Leonard Cohen,
Vainqueur,
Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme.
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.