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 Denmark 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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Crash Course in Science. All the underground hits.
All Joy Division tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Trojans 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zapp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Dual Sessions,
Donald Byrd,
The Skatalites,
Malaria!,
Thee Headcoats,
The Buckinghams,
JFA,
Sugar Minott,
Marcia Griffiths,
kango's stein massive,
ABC,
Television Personalities,
Outsiders,
Deadbeat,
K-Klass,
Aaron Thompson,
Marc Almond,
Nico,
Jeff Lynne,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Vladislav Delay,
Bobby Byrd,
A Certain Ratio,
Alice Coltrane,
Public Enemy,
B.T. Express,
Urselle,
Robert Hood,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ultra Naté,
The Names,
DJ Style,
Shuggie Otis,
Morten Harket,
The Kinks,
Q65,
FM Einheit,
Althea and Donna,
Hasil Adkins,
Scan 7,
Rotary Connection,
Quantec,
Janne Schatter,
Supertramp,
The Associates,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gregory Isaacs,
Letta Mbulu,
The Seeds,
Idris Muhammad,
the Human League,
In Retrospect,
The Invisible,
Gabor Szabo,
Gang Green,
Little Man,
Heaven 17,
Bauhaus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars.
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.