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 Costa Rica and from Stockholm.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Black Pus to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All The Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Deakin,
Tres Demented,
Davy DMX,
The Cure,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mary Jane Girls,
Cameo,
Easy Going,
Ronnie Foster,
Franke,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Dual Sessions,
The Monks,
Man Parrish,
Outsiders,
The Moleskins,
CMW,
Radiopuhelimet,
Cheater Slicks,
Sex Pistols,
The Barracudas,
The Gladiators,
Drexciya,
Newcleus,
Quantec,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Jeff Mills,
Fat Boys,
Brand Nubian,
Danielle Patucci,
Toni Rubio,
Pagans,
The Flesh Eaters,
Au Pairs,
Fad Gadget,
Sister Nancy,
Junior Murvin,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Dennis Brown,
Wally Richardson,
Max Romeo,
Rhythm & Sound,
Von Mondo,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Little Man,
K-Klass,
Rufus Thomas,
The Last Poets,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Fuzztones,
Charles Mingus,
The Standells,
Pole,
Agitation Free,
Khruangbin,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
X-102,
The Cowsills,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.