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 Syria 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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Swans to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Mantronix. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gabor Szabo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Erasure,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Grass Roots,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
UT,
Procol Harum,
Hasil Adkins,
The Smiths,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Throbbing Gristle,
Pole,
Anakelly,
Minutemen,
PIL,
Saccharine Trust,
The Alarm Clocks,
Blossom Toes,
James White and The Blacks,
Ronan,
Grauzone,
Theoretical Girls,
The Vogues,
Niagra,
Chris & Cosey,
Yusef Lateef,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Trojans,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Stooges,
Scion,
The Pop Group,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Judy Mowatt,
Urselle,
a-ha,
Archie Shepp,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Nils Olav,
The Buckinghams,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Dirtbombs,
Dennis Brown,
Gang Starr,
Terry Callier,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Red Krayola,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Panda Bear,
The Offenders,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rapeman,
Ten City,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rekid,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Absolute Body Control,
Eddi Front,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Mummies,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.