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 Ivory Coast and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Pop Group to the grunge 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 Scratch Acid. All the underground hits.
All Stiv Bators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fifty Foot Hose record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neu!,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lakeside,
The Velvet Underground,
Chris & Cosey,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Thee Headcoats,
Aswad,
Groovy Waters,
OOIOO,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Brick,
Mo-Dettes,
Mandrill,
Flipper,
Pet Shop Boys,
Slave,
Thompson Twins,
Max Romeo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Victims,
The Alarm Clocks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Amazonics,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pierre Henry,
Spandau Ballet,
PIL,
The Red Krayola,
Cameo,
Godley & Creme,
Cheater Slicks,
Lou Christie,
Monolake,
The Pop Group,
Surgeon,
Erasure,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Howard Jones,
Barrington Levy,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Jimmy McGriff,
Marine Girls,
Mark Hollis,
Camouflage,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Names,
Parry Music,
Model 500,
Dark Day,
MC5,
Colin Newman,
MDC,
The Slits,
The Doors,
Rhythm & Sound,
Scan 7,
The Kinks,
Lower 48,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.