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 Kuwait and from Halifax.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Curtis Mayfield to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Teasers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
Lakeside,
The Toasters,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Crash Course in Science,
Brothers Johnson,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Man Eating Sloth,
Dawn Penn,
Eli Mardock,
John Holt,
Pylon,
Zapp,
New Order,
June of 44,
Throbbing Gristle,
The United States of America,
Von Mondo,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Can,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bobbi Humphrey,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Vainqueur,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Wolf Eyes,
Black Flag,
the Normal,
K-Klass,
Oneida,
Sight & Sound,
The Fugs,
The Fuzztones,
Scrapy,
Bobby Byrd,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jeru the Damaja,
Drexciya,
Index,
Gang of Four,
Blossom Toes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
KRS-One,
John Cale,
Magma,
Wings,
Bush Tetras,
Q65,
JFA,
The Stooges,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Flipper,
The Cramps,
Excepter,
Tubeway Army,
Jandek,
Make Up,
Robert Hood,
Donald Byrd,
Albert Ayler,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.