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 Lithuania and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 OOIOO to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
The Names,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Todd Terry,
Tres Demented,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Anthony Braxton,
U.S. Maple,
Maurizio,
Basic Channel,
Electric Prunes,
Fela Kuti,
The Slits,
Minnie Riperton,
The Selecter,
Michelle Simonal,
Tim Buckley,
John Lydon,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Judy Mowatt,
The Buckinghams,
Vladislav Delay,
Eli Mardock,
Camberwell Now,
Connie Case,
Main Source,
Barry Ungar,
Crime,
the Association,
Public Enemy,
June of 44,
Stockholm Monsters,
The United States of America,
Drexciya,
Infiniti,
Sexual Harrassment,
Symarip,
Young Marble Giants,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bad Manners,
Index,
Schoolly D,
CMW,
Talk Talk,
Wally Richardson,
Barbara Tucker,
Ice-T,
Bill Wells,
The Grass Roots,
Eric B and Rakim,
China Crisis,
Slave,
The Leaves,
Fluxion,
Cecil Taylor,
Erasure,
Sun City Girls,
Monks,
Janne Schatter,
The Birthday Party,
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.