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 Estonia and from Seoul.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 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 Throbbing Gristle to the grunge 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 The Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All John Lydon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Reuben Wilson,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Divine Comedy,
Pagans,
Sex Pistols,
The Raincoats,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Flash Fearless,
James White and The Blacks,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Count Five,
Peter & Gordon,
Roger Hodgson,
Audionom,
Moby Grape,
Amazonics,
Soul II Soul,
Darondo,
Junior Murvin,
Country Teasers,
Chris & Cosey,
kango's stein massive,
Bob Dylan,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Judy Mowatt,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Slits,
The Martian,
The Move,
Ossler,
MC5,
Young Marble Giants,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Pantytec,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Evens,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Scan 7,
Barclay James Harvest,
Leonard Cohen,
Goldenarms,
Pharoah Sanders,
Wire,
Steve Hackett,
8 Eyed Spy,
Buzzcocks,
Prince Buster,
Pantaleimon,
Monolake,
CMW,
Interpol,
Lou Reed,
Fela Kuti,
Basic Channel,
Throbbing Gristle,
Erasure,
Jacques Brel,
Piero Umiliani,
Quantec,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.