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 Mexico and from Toronto.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South 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 David McCallum to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All The Wake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
X-Ray Spex,
Pole,
David McCallum,
Sam Rivers,
Popol Vuh,
Jeff Lynne,
Mantronix,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ronan,
PIL,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Michelle Simonal,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Motions,
MDC,
T.S.O.L.,
Radiohead,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Bauhaus,
Vainqueur,
Lou Christie,
Eve St. Jones,
Surgeon,
Theoretical Girls,
Mary Jane Girls,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Wings,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Dennis Brown,
The Index,
Connie Case,
Black Sheep,
Ultra Naté,
Bobby Byrd,
R.M.O.,
Patti Smith,
Boredoms,
Lindisfarne,
Technova,
Traffic Nightmare,
The United States of America,
The Fugs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Durutti Column,
cv313,
Funkadelic,
Flamin' Groovies,
Piero Umiliani,
Ultravox,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Silicon Teens,
Hardrive,
Stetsasonic,
The Slits,
Alphaville,
Hot Snakes,
Livin' Joy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bad Manners,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.