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 Belgium and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Jacob Miller to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kenny Larkin 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dirtbombs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pet Shop Boys,
Niagra,
Leonard Cohen,
Flipper,
Aural Exciters,
Blossom Toes,
Fluxion,
Barrington Levy,
Brand Nubian,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
DJ Style,
The Happenings,
Television,
Judy Mowatt,
Jerry's Kids,
Arab on Radar,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Arcadia,
Underground Resistance,
Amon Düül II,
The Five Americans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Toni Rubio,
The Grass Roots,
Pharoah Sanders,
Vainqueur,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Monochrome Set,
The Pretty Things,
Rod Modell,
L. Decosne,
Dennis Brown,
Mark Hollis,
Bobby Byrd,
10cc,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Parry Music,
Moebius,
Unwound,
The Gories,
Vladislav Delay,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dorothy Ashby,
Alphaville,
The Leaves,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
John Lydon,
The Gap Band,
Shoche,
T.S.O.L.,
Piero Umiliani,
Lou Reed,
Main Source,
The Smiths,
A Certain Ratio,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Tears for Fears,
The Residents,
The Dead C,
The Saints,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.