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 Afghanistan and from Hong Kong.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Mission of Burma to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Howard Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stockholm Monsters,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tres Demented,
Q65,
The Doobie Brothers,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cybotron,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Outsiders,
Brand Nubian,
kango's stein massive,
Severed Heads,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Quando Quango,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pylon,
Fugazi,
The Cure,
The Names,
The Dirtbombs,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Howard Jones,
Man Eating Sloth,
Von Mondo,
The Index,
The Tremeloes,
Siglo XX,
Sister Nancy,
Max Romeo,
Basic Channel,
Piero Umiliani,
The United States of America,
Ohio Players,
Soft Cell,
Loose Ends,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Gun Club,
Massinfluence,
F. McDonald,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Knickerbockers,
Bluetip,
Bob Dylan,
Scott Walker,
E-Dancer,
Pagans,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Fire Engines,
Sandy B,
Letta Mbulu,
Bang On A Can,
Nirvana,
Tropical Tobacco,
Steve Hackett,
Slave,
Spoonie Gee,
Stiv Bators,
Terrestrial Tones,
China Crisis,
Erasure, Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.
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.