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 Japan and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Bobby Byrd to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Tommy Roe. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultravox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
Kayak,
Yellowson,
The Birthday Party,
John Lydon,
Masters at Work,
Bang On A Can,
Jacques Brel,
The Last Poets,
The Count Five,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Funky Four + One,
Spoonie Gee,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Todd Rundgren,
Idris Muhammad,
Pussy Galore,
Davy DMX,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Litter,
Magma,
Public Image Ltd.,
Dennis Brown,
The Tremeloes,
Severed Heads,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Susan Cadogan,
The Alarm Clocks,
U.S. Maple,
Isaac Hayes,
Deadbeat,
Marine Girls,
Television,
Marmalade,
In Retrospect,
Black Bananas,
Terry Callier,
Minutemen,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lindisfarne,
The Velvet Underground,
Accadde A,
New Age Steppers,
Aswad,
Stereo Dub,
Qualms,
Moss Icon,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Andrew Hill,
Kerri Chandler,
Youth Brigade,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Selecter,
The Toasters,
Kerrie Biddell,
Fela Kuti,
Eli Mardock,
Maleditus Sound,
Derrick Morgan,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Fania All-Stars,
Circle Jerks,
Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented.
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.