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 Germany and from Spokane.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 The Motions to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Index. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Matthew Halsall,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Motorama,
OOIOO,
Soft Machine,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
the Swans,
F. McDonald,
Howard Jones,
Freddie Wadling,
Harpers Bizarre,
Adolescents,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Aaron Thompson,
Pantaleimon,
Barrington Levy,
Neil Young,
Tears for Fears,
Davy DMX,
Fear,
Tim Buckley,
Bauhaus,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bootsy Collins,
Josef K,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
T. Rex,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Joey Negro,
The Leaves,
Aloha Tigers,
Desert Stars,
Minor Threat,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
UT,
Ken Boothe,
Mission of Burma,
Malaria!,
Funky Four + One,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Todd Terry,
John Holt,
Electric Prunes,
Mandrill,
Little Man,
The Smiths,
Moebius,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Deakin,
Thompson Twins,
Amon Düül,
Minnie Riperton,
The Cure,
D'Angelo,
Terry Callier,
The Stooges,
The Seeds,
H. Thieme,
La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf.
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.