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 Chile and from Calgary.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 oboe 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 Swell Maps to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Porter Ricks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lindisfarne,
Liliput,
Gastr Del Sol,
Chris & Cosey,
Sixth Finger,
Young Marble Giants,
Toni Rubio,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Groovy Waters,
Lalann,
Television Personalities,
Can,
Harmonia,
The Gun Club,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Red Krayola,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Boredoms,
Maleditus Sound,
Ornette Coleman,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bob Dylan,
Curtis Mayfield,
Massinfluence,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Mo-Dettes,
Jawbox,
Echospace,
Radiohead,
Darondo,
The Standells,
Skarface,
Country Teasers,
Joy Division,
The Alarm Clocks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rosa Yemen,
Ronan,
Ponytail,
Gang Starr,
Mantronix,
The Seeds,
Sällskapet,
The Birthday Party,
Charles Mingus,
Quando Quango,
Laurel Aitken,
Delta 5,
Tears for Fears,
Agitation Free,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brick,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sound Behaviour,
Marvin Gaye,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Pylon,
Zero Boys,
Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith, Jerry Gold Smith.
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.