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 Lesotho and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
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 Black Dice to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Smog. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Morten Harket record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Basic Channel,
JFA,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Seeds,
Pantaleimon,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ronan,
Pylon,
Bluetip,
Amon Düül II,
Adolescents,
The Gun Club,
The Move,
Zapp,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Joy Division,
Clear Light,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
DNA,
Letta Mbulu,
Brass Construction,
The Raincoats,
Eden Ahbez,
The Names,
Arthur Verocai,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Inner City,
Marvin Gaye,
Moby Grape,
Cameo,
Bizarre Inc.,
Harmonia,
Amon Düül,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Livin' Joy,
Josef K,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Camberwell Now,
Peter & Gordon,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Yazoo,
Bobby Sherman,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Half Japanese,
The Mummies,
Junior Murvin,
Pole,
Masters at Work,
Moebius,
Mo-Dettes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
This Heat,
Scientists,
Make Up,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Urselle,
John Holt,
Average White Band,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.