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 Djibouti and from Houston.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 Adolescents to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All Roxy Music tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liaisons Dangereuses record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sad Lovers and Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doobie Brothers,
The Detroit Cobras,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Kevin Saunderson,
Crispian St. Peters,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Last Poets,
Young Marble Giants,
Alphaville,
The J.B.'s,
The Techniques,
Mandrill,
the Normal,
Peter & Gordon,
Robert Görl,
Henry Cow,
The Standells,
Matthew Halsall,
The Monochrome Set,
The Remains,
Fatback Band,
Basic Channel,
U.S. Maple,
Pulsallama,
X-101,
The Gap Band,
Sam Rivers,
The Divine Comedy,
Faust,
Pole,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bronski Beat,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Smoke,
Visage,
Eric Dolphy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Boogie Down Productions,
Girls At Our Best!,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Cecil Taylor,
Audionom,
Dead Boys,
Spoonie Gee,
Buzzcocks,
Alton Ellis,
Junior Murvin,
Japan,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Yazoo,
Roxy Music,
Quadrant,
Piero Umiliani,
Isaac Hayes,
Eli Mardock,
the Germs,
the Sonics,
Erasure,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.