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 East Timor and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Q and Not U to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All Harpers Bizarre tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dawn Penn 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Shadows of Knight,
Section 25,
MC5,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Tres Demented,
Jeff Mills,
Clear Light,
Ludus,
Popol Vuh,
Roger Hodgson,
Colin Newman,
Graham Central Station,
Ponytail,
Godley & Creme,
The Misunderstood,
The Stooges,
Rosa Yemen,
The Fall,
ABBA,
Gastr Del Sol,
Mission of Burma,
Girls At Our Best!,
Joensuu 1685,
Sun Ra,
Pole,
Desert Stars,
Gong,
Avey Tare,
Terry Callier,
Throbbing Gristle,
UT,
Piero Umiliani,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Selecter,
a-ha,
Wire,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mantronix,
Deadbeat,
Neu!,
Black Bananas,
Country Teasers,
Bobby Womack,
Lower 48,
U.S. Maple,
Minny Pops,
Reuben Wilson,
Metal Thangz,
Ultimate Spinach,
Moebius,
Nico,
Minor Threat,
Rekid,
Little Man,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pierre Henry,
Young Marble Giants,
The Blues Magoos, The Blues Magoos, The Blues Magoos, The Blues Magoos.
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.