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 Egypt and from Taipei.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 John Lydon to the crunk 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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All the Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Talk Talk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Popol Vuh,
Gabor Szabo,
Ultravox,
Neil Young,
Matthew Bourne,
Arcadia,
Max Romeo,
the Normal,
Slick Rick,
Althea and Donna,
New Order,
Boz Scaggs,
Sparks,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lindisfarne,
The Wake,
Model 500,
Public Image Ltd.,
Dennis Brown,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Durutti Column,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Leaves,
Ossler,
The Star Department,
The Angels of Light,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Al Stewart,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rod Modell,
The Trojans,
Excepter,
Grauzone,
Donald Byrd,
Desert Stars,
June Days,
Iggy Pop,
Thee Headcoats,
The Pretty Things,
Rufus Thomas,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Technova,
Steve Hackett,
Curtis Mayfield,
Scion,
Boredoms,
Nirvana,
Bauhaus,
Rites of Spring,
Camberwell Now,
Marine Girls,
Delta 5,
The Motions,
Pussy Galore,
Royal Trux,
Rapeman,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.