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 Antigua and from Sao Paulo.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bauhaus to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Dead Boys. All the underground hits.
All Q and Not U tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brass Construction record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Janne Schatter,
Agitation Free,
The Residents,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Sun Ra,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Althea and Donna,
Bronski Beat,
The Cosmic Jokers,
JFA,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Fad Gadget,
Jesper Dahlback,
Derrick May,
Jacques Brel,
The Dead C,
Soul II Soul,
Mars,
Crispian St. Peters,
Harpers Bizarre,
Susan Cadogan,
Amon Düül,
Kurtis Blow,
This Heat,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jimmy McGriff,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bad Manners,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
X-102,
Marine Girls,
Kas Product,
Von Mondo,
Shuggie Otis,
The Zeros,
Jerry's Kids,
Peter & Gordon,
Funkadelic,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Fugs,
The Gladiators,
Visage,
Marshall Jefferson,
Panda Bear,
The Red Krayola,
Buzzcocks,
Nas,
Bush Tetras,
Donny Hathaway,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Erykah Badu,
Qualms,
Moss Icon,
Subhumans,
Suburban Knight,
Minny Pops,
Peter and Kerry,
Frankie Knuckles,
John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon.
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.