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 Guinea and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 The Moleskins to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quando Quango record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Maleditus Sound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Radiohead,
Television,
Jeff Mills,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Boz Scaggs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Eli Mardock,
The Misunderstood,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Amazonics,
Fat Boys,
The Pretty Things,
Terrestrial Tones,
New Order,
Scott Walker,
Freddie Wadling,
The Detroit Cobras,
Traffic Nightmare,
Panda Bear,
The Index,
Joey Negro,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Barry Ungar,
Black Bananas,
Robert Wyatt,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Young Marble Giants,
Eric Copeland,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Chris Corsano,
Rapeman,
The Count Five,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Donald Byrd,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Charles Mingus,
MDC,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pere Ubu,
Bill Wells,
Minutemen,
Sandy B,
Leonard Cohen,
The United States of America,
Sam Rivers,
Cameo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Yazoo,
Cheater Slicks,
Gang of Four,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mars,
Isaac Hayes,
Infiniti,
Marine Girls,
Soft Cell,
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan.
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.