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 Ethiopia and from Glasgow.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Manila.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Idris Muhammad to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Soul Sonic Force. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Maurizio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
The Selecter,
Deepchord,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Doors,
Icehouse,
Black Moon,
Tommy Roe,
L. Decosne,
Swans,
Gang Gang Dance,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Derrick Morgan,
Lungfish,
Subhumans,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Fall,
Stetsasonic,
Junior Murvin,
Crime,
Barry Ungar,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Scott Walker,
Thompson Twins,
Wolf Eyes,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Marvin Gaye,
Country Teasers,
Dave Gahan,
Pulsallama,
Glambeats Corp.,
Man Eating Sloth,
Hasil Adkins,
The Barracudas,
Ultimate Spinach,
Josef K,
Bizarre Inc.,
Adolescents,
Donald Byrd,
June Days,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nick Fraelich,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Aswad,
The Alarm Clocks,
Joyce Sims,
JFA,
Hoover,
The Raincoats,
Aural Exciters,
Monolake,
Maleditus Sound,
Marmalade,
Crooked Eye,
Eden Ahbez,
Gang Green,
Frankie Knuckles,
X-Ray Spex,
Byron Stingily,
PIL,
Little Man,
Erasure,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.