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 Antigua and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 The Divine Comedy to the punk 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a PIL record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Talk Talk,
Brick,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Wolf Eyes,
Clear Light,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Spoonie Gee,
Altered Images,
The Divine Comedy,
Bill Wells,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Grass Roots,
The Mummies,
Malaria!,
Sex Pistols,
These Immortal Souls,
Masters at Work,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lalann,
Deadbeat,
The Moleskins,
Kerri Chandler,
The Gories,
Faraquet,
Black Moon,
Robert Görl,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Tears for Fears,
The Blackbyrds,
Intrusion,
Desert Stars,
Lucky Dragons,
Carl Craig,
the Swans,
B.T. Express,
Joe Finger,
The Cowsills,
E-Dancer,
The Litter,
the Fania All-Stars,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Amon Düül,
Yusef Lateef,
Sparks,
The United States of America,
The Sound,
Chris Corsano,
The Last Poets,
The Trojans,
The Fire Engines,
New York Dolls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nation of Ulysses,
Terrestrial Tones,
Hashim,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Wake,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Monolake,
Banda Bassotti,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket, Morten Harket.
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.