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 Lebanon and from Toronto.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
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 Tropical Tobacco to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All PIL tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cure 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 a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dave Gahan,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Angry Samoans,
The Tremeloes,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Nas,
JFA,
Zapp,
Section 25,
The Mummies,
Duran Duran,
R.M.O.,
Yusef Lateef,
Qualms,
Connie Case,
the Bar-Kays,
Half Japanese,
Soulsonic Force,
Essential Logic,
Pere Ubu,
Danielle Patucci,
Camberwell Now,
Eli Mardock,
James White and The Blacks,
Stetsasonic,
Easy Going,
Spandau Ballet,
The Moleskins,
Lindisfarne,
Mad Mike,
The Moody Blues,
The Skatalites,
David Axelrod,
Theoretical Girls,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jeru the Damaja,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Real Kids,
Funky Four + One,
Visage,
Frankie Knuckles,
Adolescents,
The Wake,
Depeche Mode,
Outsiders,
Thee Headcoats,
Clear Light,
Boredoms,
Maurizio,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bauhaus,
The Music Machine,
Kas Product,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Agitation Free,
Deepchord,
The Dead C,
The Names,
The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club, The Gun Club.
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.