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 Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Moss Icon to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Brick. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hot Snakes 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Mars,
ABC,
The Invisible,
Joey Negro,
These Immortal Souls,
Yusef Lateef,
Moby Grape,
Andrew Hill,
the Bar-Kays,
Peter and Kerry,
New York Dolls,
Neu!,
Trumans Water,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Cecil Taylor,
Robert Hood,
Amon Düül II,
The Angels of Light,
Freddie Wadling,
Nas,
Cal Tjader,
Blake Baxter,
Fluxion,
Agitation Free,
Young Marble Giants,
Henry Cow,
Pylon,
Nick Fraelich,
Amazonics,
Metal Thangz,
DJ Style,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Magma,
Dawn Penn,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bronski Beat,
The Gap Band,
Dead Boys,
The Toasters,
Rakim,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Newcleus,
Can,
Nik Kershaw,
Intrusion,
CMW,
Anakelly,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Sound,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Todd Rundgren,
Crash Course in Science,
Quantec,
The Smiths,
Glenn Branca,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Warren Ellis,
The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes, The Electric Prunes.
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.