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 Laos and from Lyon.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 synthesizer 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Niagra. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Visage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal 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?
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pussy Galore,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
James White and The Blacks,
Funkadelic,
Pere Ubu,
Blake Baxter,
Aaron Thompson,
Rites of Spring,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Goldenarms,
Bizarre Inc.,
B.T. Express,
The Happenings,
Ken Boothe,
The Misunderstood,
Theoretical Girls,
Henry Cow,
The Selecter,
Technova,
Arcadia,
Sandy B,
Skaos,
Lindisfarne,
Peter & Gordon,
Aloha Tigers,
Fela Kuti,
Livin' Joy,
Aural Exciters,
Charles Mingus,
Roger Hodgson,
The Moody Blues,
Nik Kershaw,
The Black Dice,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Drexciya,
The Detroit Cobras,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Fall,
These Immortal Souls,
Rapeman,
Black Moon,
Steve Hackett,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Maleditus Sound,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bush Tetras,
Quadrant,
The Evens,
8 Eyed Spy,
Motorama,
Nils Olav,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Slick Rick,
Marc Almond,
Television Personalities,
Bill Near,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Robert Görl,
The Electric Prunes,
Audionom,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.