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 Croatia and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sarah Menescal to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 the Germs. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harmonia 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Franke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Soft Cell,
The Cowsills,
Howard Jones,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Slick Rick,
Wings,
Mo-Dettes,
Schoolly D,
Mary Jane Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joe Smooth,
The Raincoats,
Robert Hood,
Todd Rundgren,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Little Man,
Chris Corsano,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Main Source,
Q and Not U,
Barclay James Harvest,
Black Flag,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Wake,
The United States of America,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Music Machine,
The Slits,
The Buckinghams,
Subhumans,
John Holt,
Erasure,
The Vogues,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Angry Samoans,
Terry Callier,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rekid,
The Kinks,
K-Klass,
Flash Fearless,
Deadbeat,
Agent Orange,
Circle Jerks,
Jawbox,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Reuben Wilson,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bobby Sherman,
Maurizio,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Brothers Johnson,
Buzzcocks,
Warsaw,
The Red Krayola,
Stetsasonic,
Byron Stingily,
Marshall Jefferson,
Johnny Clarke,
Steve Hackett, Steve Hackett, Steve Hackett, Steve Hackett.
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.