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 Papua New Guinea and from Seoul.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quantec,
Fad Gadget,
Zero Boys,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Althea and Donna,
Tim Buckley,
In Retrospect,
Andrew Hill,
Marine Girls,
Faust,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sonny Sharrock,
Rakim,
Cluster,
Rod Modell,
Tres Demented,
Infiniti,
Buzzcocks,
Minnie Riperton,
The Alarm Clocks,
UT,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Charles Mingus,
The Flesh Eaters,
Tears for Fears,
Saccharine Trust,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Deadbeat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
New Age Steppers,
Kenny Larkin,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dark Day,
Juan Atkins,
the Slits,
Clear Light,
The Vogues,
DJ Style,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fear,
Visage,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Tubeway Army,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Yusef Lateef,
New York Dolls,
Second Layer,
Mr. Review,
The Black Dice,
Reagan Youth,
Mark Hollis,
Jeff Lynne,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Peter & Gordon,
The Index,
The Invisible,
The Misunderstood,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Accadde A,
Jacques Brel,
Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside, Lakeside.
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.