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 Mongolia and from Halifax.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 theremin 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 The Techniques to the electroclash 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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crispy Ambulance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Yellowson,
Shoche,
Susan Cadogan,
D'Angelo,
The Young Rascals,
Youth Brigade,
Josef K,
KRS-One,
Monks,
Khruangbin,
Section 25,
The Sound,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
DNA,
Bobby Sherman,
Sandy B,
Rekid,
Ronnie Foster,
B.T. Express,
Mission of Burma,
The Techniques,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Warsaw,
Little Man,
Judy Mowatt,
The Velvet Underground,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Fugs,
Glambeats Corp.,
Rufus Thomas,
Tres Demented,
Colin Newman,
Newcleus,
Arcadia,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Reagan Youth,
Minor Threat,
Marmalade,
Joensuu 1685,
The Human League,
The Dead C,
Organ,
The Seeds,
Mars,
Ultimate Spinach,
Whodini,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Echospace,
Roxette,
Donald Byrd,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tropical Tobacco,
U.S. Maple,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sparks,
Lalann,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.