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 Uzbekistan and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Edmonton.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Brothers Johnson to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All The Velvet Underground tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every PIL record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gregory Isaacs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Joe Smooth,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Swans,
Aloha Tigers,
Infiniti,
Bobby Sherman,
Faraquet,
Inner City,
D'Angelo,
The Birthday Party,
Thee Headcoats,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Television,
Sam Rivers,
CMW,
Darondo,
Jacob Miller,
Silicon Teens,
The Detroit Cobras,
Reagan Youth,
The Dead C,
Au Pairs,
The Blackbyrds,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Country Teasers,
The Searchers,
The J.B.'s,
The Pretty Things,
The Happenings,
Peter and Kerry,
Rites of Spring,
Slave,
Index,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Qualms,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bill Wells,
10cc,
Matthew Bourne,
K-Klass,
Half Japanese,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Gun Club,
Tim Buckley,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Motorama,
the Slits,
Robert Hood,
Kerri Chandler,
Throbbing Gristle,
Theoretical Girls,
Sugar Minott,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Standells,
Moss Icon,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.