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 Tonga and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terrestrial Tones 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Henry Cow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Funkadelic,
the Swans,
Pylon,
Peter and Kerry,
Joe Finger,
Janne Schatter,
Marc Almond,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Rites of Spring,
Suicide,
Avey Tare,
KRS-One,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Henry Cow,
Hoover,
Lindisfarne,
Niagra,
Bobby Byrd,
Altered Images,
Fugazi,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Wally Richardson,
Deakin,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jacques Brel,
Quando Quango,
Agitation Free,
Dawn Penn,
Masters at Work,
FM Einheit,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Moss Icon,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Velvet Underground,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gastr Del Sol,
David Bowie,
The Misunderstood,
John Foxx,
10cc,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Essential Logic,
The Vogues,
Godley & Creme,
Flash Fearless,
T.S.O.L.,
Quadrant,
Half Japanese,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Radiohead,
The Associates,
Soul Sonic Force,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Intrusion,
Joy Division,
Robert Hood,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.