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 Equatorial Guinea and from Philadelphia.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 arpeggiator 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 Warsaw to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All Wings tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Martian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kas Product,
Unrelated Segments,
Camberwell Now,
Shoche,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Visage,
The Durutti Column,
Angry Samoans,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Residents,
Lou Reed,
Ken Boothe,
Moebius,
Model 500,
Mission of Burma,
Morten Harket,
The Zeros,
Jimmy McGriff,
Magma,
Leonard Cohen,
The Walker Brothers,
Lindisfarne,
the Human League,
ABBA,
Tom Boy,
Chrome,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Fad Gadget,
Radio Birdman,
Kenny Larkin,
Roxette,
Black Bananas,
China Crisis,
Jawbox,
Dave Gahan,
Barclay James Harvest,
Average White Band,
The Shadows of Knight,
DNA,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Procol Harum,
Spandau Ballet,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Neil Young,
Andrew Hill,
Deakin,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sam Rivers,
The Dirtbombs,
Terry Callier,
The Star Department,
Niagra,
Black Flag,
A Certain Ratio,
D'Angelo,
Accadde A,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Jeff Lynne,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Idris Muhammad,
Don Cherry,
Crash Course in Science,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.