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 Sudan and from Sao Paulo.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Pet Shop Boys to the electroclash 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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moody Blues record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Tropical Tobacco,
Talk Talk,
The Knickerbockers,
Soulsonic Force,
Roger Hodgson,
MDC,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Tomorrow,
Trumans Water,
Harmonia,
Los Fastidios,
Gastr Del Sol,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Todd Terry,
Aural Exciters,
Tubeway Army,
Icehouse,
Boogie Down Productions,
Oneida,
PIL,
Yaz,
Soft Cell,
Cluster,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Throbbing Gristle,
Harpers Bizarre,
JFA,
Audionom,
Magazine,
The Techniques,
Main Source,
DJ Style,
Amon Düül II,
Surgeon,
Al Stewart,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Sound,
Hashim,
Rakim,
The Birthday Party,
John Foxx,
Faust,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Spoonie Gee,
Unwound,
Minny Pops,
Von Mondo,
Camouflage,
Traffic Nightmare,
Jacques Brel,
Japan,
Kevin Saunderson,
Q65,
Jeff Mills,
Kurtis Blow,
the Normal,
The Zeros,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Nirvana,
Liliput,
the Germs, the Germs, the Germs, the Germs.
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.