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 Mali and from Shanghai.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Adolescents 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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All Yazoo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Loose Ends 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Can,
Max Romeo,
Grey Daturas,
the Bar-Kays,
Sight & Sound,
New Order,
Con Funk Shun,
the Normal,
Easy Going,
Ituana,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Raincoats,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Byron Stingily,
Livin' Joy,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Frankie Knuckles,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Maurizio,
Yazoo,
Icehouse,
New York Dolls,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ossler,
DNA,
K-Klass,
Chris Corsano,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crime,
Crash Course in Science,
John Foxx,
Fela Kuti,
Tears for Fears,
Second Layer,
Rufus Thomas,
The Fire Engines,
World's Most,
Josef K,
Barry Ungar,
The Move,
Stiv Bators,
Arcadia,
Lou Reed,
The Divine Comedy,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Alphaville,
Boredoms,
Interpol,
Erykah Badu,
Blossom Toes,
Johnny Clarke,
The Searchers,
Magma,
Cecil Taylor,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeff Mills,
Bob Dylan,
Wally Richardson,
Skarface, Skarface, Skarface, Skarface.
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.