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 Uganda and from Sao Paulo.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 harpsichord 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 Peter and Kerry to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All New York Dolls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Young Marble Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Man Eating Sloth,
Agitation Free,
Dave Gahan,
Alphaville,
Circle Jerks,
Lucky Dragons,
Don Cherry,
Gang Starr,
The Trojans,
Warren Ellis,
Peter & Gordon,
The Saints,
The Victims,
Jeru the Damaja,
Anakelly,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Cameo,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Robert Görl,
Cybotron,
The Gladiators,
E-Dancer,
Juan Atkins,
Ponytail,
Groovy Waters,
T.S.O.L.,
Godley & Creme,
The Divine Comedy,
The Black Dice,
the Germs,
Quadrant,
The Searchers,
Massinfluence,
The Smiths,
Sixth Finger,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Henry Cow,
Dead Boys,
Moebius,
Eric Copeland,
Mark Hollis,
Fad Gadget,
B.T. Express,
MC5,
Ituana,
The Offenders,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Skriet,
Japan,
Alton Ellis,
Kas Product,
Brothers Johnson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-102,
Ultravox,
Brass Construction,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
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.