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 United States and from Spokane.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Minnie Riperton to the punk 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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Metal Thangz,
China Crisis,
Eden Ahbez,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Soft Cell,
A Flock of Seagulls,
MDC,
Sight & Sound,
Das Ding,
Crispy Ambulance,
Crime,
Half Japanese,
Popol Vuh,
Grandmaster Flash,
Danielle Patucci,
Radiopuhelimet,
Joensuu 1685,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Fluxion,
Main Source,
Lakeside,
Erykah Badu,
The Offenders,
Fatback Band,
Lalo Schifrin,
Pet Shop Boys,
OOIOO,
Joyce Sims,
Todd Rundgren,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Fear,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dawn Penn,
Panda Bear,
Massinfluence,
the Soft Cell,
Pulsallama,
New York Dolls,
Skaos,
David Bowie,
Man Eating Sloth,
Wasted Youth,
Michelle Simonal,
Sixth Finger,
The Techniques,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alphaville,
Accadde A,
Aswad,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Human League,
Archie Shepp,
Unwound,
Bauhaus,
Boredoms,
The Black Dice,
Warsaw,
CMW,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.