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 Togo and from Stockholm.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the rhodes 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 John Holt to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bush Tetras. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Goldenarms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
Josef K,
The Kinks,
Joe Smooth,
Juan Atkins,
Brand Nubian,
Gang Green,
Hasil Adkins,
Symarip,
Nirvana,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Little Man,
Subhumans,
Mark Hollis,
Marine Girls,
Minutemen,
The Grass Roots,
June of 44,
Eve St. Jones,
The Leaves,
Parry Music,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Amon Düül II,
John Coltrane,
Ultravox,
Kas Product,
Fluxion,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
X-102,
Eric Copeland,
Ultimate Spinach,
Public Enemy,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Eurythmics,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Steve Hackett,
John Foxx,
Skarface,
Model 500,
the Soft Cell,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Sonic Youth,
The Count Five,
Marshall Jefferson,
Theoretical Girls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
EPMD,
a-ha,
The Offenders,
Max Romeo,
Icehouse,
Royal Trux,
Yellowson,
Desert Stars,
Brick,
Byron Stingily,
Intrusion,
The Birthday Party,
Funkadelic,
PIL,
Kevin Saunderson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre.
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.