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 Mauritania and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Barbara Tucker to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Angry Samoans. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mad Mike,
Quantec,
Model 500,
Das Ding,
Theoretical Girls,
The Raincoats,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Grauzone,
Albert Ayler,
Black Flag,
Throbbing Gristle,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sandy B,
Todd Terry,
Half Japanese,
10cc,
The Evens,
The Fugs,
Dark Day,
The New Christs,
Flamin' Groovies,
Joe Smooth,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Andrew Hill,
Simply Red,
The Fortunes,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bang On A Can,
Newcleus,
the Germs,
Y Pants,
Oblivians,
The Toasters,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
T.S.O.L.,
JFA,
The Real Kids,
Inner City,
Bauhaus,
Kas Product,
Sugar Minott,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Yaz,
Lalo Schifrin,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Knickerbockers,
Joy Division,
Buzzcocks,
EPMD,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Barclay James Harvest,
This Heat,
Bobby Sherman,
Gil Scott Heron,
Jandek,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Rites of Spring,
LL Cool J,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Zapp,
Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks.
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.